278 . LANIID^. 



Obs. Old birds seem to get a more greyish tinge on the upper 

 parts. 



Total length about 7 inches ; culmen about 0-GS. 



Toiing birds in their first plumage have all the upper parts 

 barred with numerous dark-brown cross-vermiculations ; the general 

 colour of the upper parts being a dingy yellowish brown. Under- 

 parls yellowish dingy white, with very few cross-vermiculations. 



Hah. The Pale-brown Shrike breeds in Turkestan and winters in 

 Scinde, the Punjab, Persia, Arabia, and Abyssinia. 



a. Ad. sk. N.W. India. R. B. Sharpe, Esq. [P.]. 



b, c, d. Ad. sk. N.W. deserts of India. Gould Collection. 

 e. Ad. sk. Peshawur. Colonel Wav [P-]. 



/. S ad. sk. Besh Tereh. Major J. Biddulph [C.]. 



g. Ad. sk. Kutch {Griffith). India Museum. 



h. Ad. sk. Kattiawar. Major Hayes Lloyd [P.]. 



i. [ 2 ] sk. Behar. B. H. Hodgson, Esq. [C.]. 



k. 5 ad. sk. Kandahar, April 14, 1881. Lieut.-Col. Swinhoe [P.]. 



I. S ad. sk. Kandahar, Jan. 18, 1881. Lieut.-Col. Swinhoe [P.]. 



m. Ad.sk. Afghanistan (6r;-^f/i). India Museum. 



n. ? sk. S.W. Afghanistan, 5000 ft. India Museum. 



(Griffith). 



o. cJ jiiv. sk. Shiraz. Sir Oliver St. John [C.]. 



p. 2 ad.; q. Zoulla, Annesley Bay, W. T. Blanford, Esq.[C.]. 

 Ad. sk. Abyssinia, Jan. 1868. 



Subspecies a. Laniiis phoenicuroides. 



Lanius phoenicuroides, Severfz. J.f. O. 1873, p. 347. 



Lanius isabellinus (?ion Ehrenb.), Walden, Ibis, 1867, p. 224, pi. 5. 



f 1 [teste Schahnv). 

 Lanius phoeuiciu'ns (non Pall.), Gaetke, Naumannia, 1858, p. 425 {ex 



Ileligoland) ; J. Vian, Rev. Zool. 1872, p. 330. 

 Otomela phosnicuroides, Schaloiv, J. f. O. 1875, p. 148 ; id. J. f. O. 



1876, p. 145. 



Although I have examined several specimens which it seems 

 impossible to refer either to L. isabellinus or L. pluenicuroides, as 

 intermediate forms occur, we must, after the examination of about 

 30 specimens, allow L. phcenicuroides, Severtz., to stand as a brighter- 

 coloured race of L. isabellinus. In addition to the structural differ- 

 ences, it may be distinguished from the latter by the following 

 points : — 



1. General colour above dingy reddish brown, alwaj's with a strong 

 grey hue, darker than L. isabellinus but not nearly so rufous as L. 

 cristatus. In old males, especially when in breeding-plumage, the 

 grey tinge is more strongly developed. 



2. Crown of head contrasting w'th the back, being always reddish 



