•J2. LANius. 249 



16. Lanius assimilis. 



Lanius assimilis, i>/-e/««, t7. /. O. 1854, p. IIG; Bvgdanoxu, Russian 



Shrikes, p. 100. 

 Lanius paUidirostris auctorum pt. 



Tail a little shorter than wing, this being due to the central tail- 

 feathers not projecting so far out as in L. hemiltiicurus ; outer web 

 of secondaries black at base ; inner web white throughout or broadly 

 bordered with white ; upper parts, including the rump, pale grey ; 

 scapulars broadly edged with white, or white throughout their ter- 

 minal half ; basal half or two thirds of most of the primaries pure 

 white on the outer and inner web, thus producing a large speculum ; 

 secondaries broadly edged with white round their tips ; lesser wing- 

 coverts and ulnar bend grey like the back ; all the other wing- 

 coverts black ; the central pair of tail-feathers entirely black, the 

 next pair narrowly tipped with white, the two outer pairs entirely 

 white but for the shafts, which are black ; a broad black band ex- 

 tends fi'om the nostrils, through the eye, including the ear-coverts ; 

 sometimes joining its fellow of the other side at the base of the 

 cidmen, producing thus a very narrow black frontal band ; superci- 

 lium white : all the underparts are generally pure white, frequently 

 with a slight rosy tinge on the breast ; under wing-coverts near the 

 base of the primaries not pure white, but pale sdkv grey. Wing 

 4-4-2 inches, taU 3-1-4-1. 



Hab. Sennaar and the White Nile, ranging through Turkestan to 

 the Amoor. 



a. Ad. sk. Punjaub. General Hearsey [P.]. 



b. [cJjad.sk. Deccan, July 31 (i5«<r^ess). Gould Collection. 



c. Ad. sk. Scinde (Dr. Goidd). India Museum. 



d. Ad. sk. Kurrachee, Scinde {Dr. India Museum. 



Guuld). 



e. Imm. sk. Ghizuee (Dr. Gould). India Museum. 

 /. Imm. sk. East Africa. Purchased. 



17. Lanius hemileucurus. 



Lanius hemileucurus, Finsch ^- Hartl. Vog. Ostafr. p. 329 (1870). 

 Lanius dealbatus, de Filippi, apiid Tristram, Ibis, 1859, p. 433 ; 



apud Loche, Cat. Mamm. Ois. Ah/, p. 87 ; id. E.vpl. Sci. Alyer., 



Ois. ii. p. 49 ; apud Gurney, Ibis, 1871, p. 76. 



Western race. — In Algiers, Tunis, Fezzan, and Kordofan L. assi- 

 milis is represented by a slightly different race. The tail is alwaj's 

 longer than the wing, which, again, is nearly the same length as that 

 of L. assimilis ; inner web of most of the secondaries almost entirely 

 white, the blackish colour being restricted to a broad subterminal 

 patch. This race consequently closely resembles L. elcciana, but 

 differs from the latter in having no white on the basal half of the 

 outer web of the secondaries. Every intermediate stage in colora- 

 tion occurs between L. hemileucurus aiul L. fallax ; and we mav look 



