208 LANIID^. 



black, those in the fore-arm inclining to grey. Primaries 

 and secondaries brownish-black, the former with a broad 

 white band and some of the latter tipped more or less with 

 white. Two middle pairs of tail-feathers black, the next 

 pair white at the base and tip, the next with still more 

 white, and the outermost, which are considerably shorter 

 than the rest, entirely white. The plumage beneath is 

 white, quite pure on the chin, throat and sides of the neck ; 

 but suffused with a roseate blush, often fading into grey, on 

 the breast and sides of the body; the lower wing-coverts 

 blackish-grey ; the quills of the wings and tail beneath shew 

 the markings of the upper surface but less distinctly. The 

 legs, toes and claws, dull black. 



The female and immature male have the black frontal band 

 mixed with brown, the colours generally less pure, and the 

 breast and belly marked with hght grey transverse lines. 



The young, as also represented in the woodcut, has the 

 upper surface of the body mottled with darker bars, generally 

 two near the tip of each feather, the terminal patches of the 

 wing-feathers being also tinged with pale brown. 



The whole length of the Lesser Grey Shrike is from eight 

 to nine inches, from the carpus to the end of the longest 

 primary, four inches and a half; the first wing-feather not 

 so long by a third as the second, which is slightly longer 

 than the fourth, but usually shorter than the third — the 

 longest in the wing. 



The vignette below represents the breastbone of the Great 

 Grey Shrike, and shews the form which, with comparatively 

 few exceptions, is common to the whole of the Order Pas- 

 seres. 



