1867.] ON THE EUFOUS-TAILED SHRIKES. 43 



4. Lanius superciliosus, Lath., Ind. Orn. Supp. 1801, p. 20. no. 14 ; Gen. Hist. ii. p. 36. 

 no. 34. Raffles, Mem., Cat. Zool. Sp. p. 658 (ex Sumatra). Sundev., K. S. Vet. Ak. Handl. 

 1857, pp. 31, 60. no. 66, 2. Blyth, Cat. Mus. Calc. p. 152. no. 874 (ex Malacca) (nee Licht., 

 Doubl. 1823, p. 47. no. 509=Z. rutilans, Temm., Man. iii. p. 601) (nee Swains., N. H. Bds. ii. 

 21 9= a erythronotus, Vig., P. Z. S. 1831, p. 42). v. Pelzeln, Nov. Reise, Zool. Th. i. p. 84 (ex 

 Malacca, at sea, near the Mariannes, lat. 17^ 32' N., and long. 138° 8'E.). 



Le Bousseau, LevailL, Ois. d'Afrique, ii. p. 60, pi. 66. fig. 2 (ex Java). 



Mliite-cheeked Shrike, Lath., C?) Gen. Hist. ii. p. 53. no. 53 (ex India). p.'2l9. ' 



Enneoctonus superciliosus (Lath.), G. R. Gray, Gen. Bds. i. p. 291. no. 6. Bp., Consp. i. 

 p. 368. no. 8 (ex Java X). H. & M., Cat. i. App. 1. p. 394. no. 638 (ex Malacca, Pinang). 



Otomela superciliosa (Lath.), Bp., Rev. de Zool. 1853, p. 437. no. 29 (ex Java]). 



Two questions must be answered before the correct synonymy of this species can be deter- 

 mined. Does it occur in Java 1 Is it the same, or does it differ from L. phcenicurus, Pall, apud 

 Schrenckl Levaillant {I. c.) first described and figured the bird, said by him to have come from 

 Java, on which Latham founded his species. Levaillant's authority for its habitat is, of course 

 untrustworthy ; and no subsequent author who adopts it supports Levaillant by collateral evidence. 

 The species is not included by Horsfield in his " Catalogue of the Birds of Java " (Linn. Tr. xiii.). 

 No specimens from that island are contained in the British or East-India Museums. Mr. Blyth, 

 intimately acquainted with Eastern ornithology, informs me that he never met with a Javan 

 specimen ; and Mr. Wallace did not observe it in Java. L. hentet, Horsf , is the only Javan 

 Shrike known to these eminent naturalists ; and no other Javan species is within my own limited 

 knowledge. Yet if such a bird does inhabit Java, it will have to be regarded as L. superciJiosus, 

 Lath., vcrus. In the Malay Peninsula a species, very common in collections, exists, answering in 

 all respects to Levaillant's account of Le Bousseau ; and for the present it will be convenient to 

 regard it as having supplied Levaillant with the subject of his plate and description. Its 

 occurrence in Sumatra, not in itself improbable, rests upon the sole authority of Sir S. Raffles. 



On the supposition that my Hakodadi specimen is L. phoemcurus, Pall. ap. Schrenck, it is 

 not easy to discriminate the characters which separate it from Malay L. superciliosus. A some- 

 what shorter wing, a brown, more dully-coloured back, and a narrower white frontal band 

 constitute the only perceptible discrepancies of the Malay specimens I have had opportunities of 

 examining. Otherwise the two are exactly similar, the rufous of the head and upper tail-coverts 

 being quite as intense, and the white of the under surface as pure and as extended. On the p.' 220.' 

 other hand, the female or young of the Malay species is almost pure cinereous on the upper 

 surface. Bonaparte (l. c.) uses the expression " rufo-cinerea,'' but I have seen Malay specimens 

 which are cinereous without a tinge of rufous. In the next place, all our information leads to 

 the conclusion that the Malay bird does not migrate to the north. Further investigation will be 

 necessary to enable us to decide whether it be the same as the Japan bird. 



Herr V. Pelzeln {I. c.) mentions that a specimen of this species was obtained by the ' Novara' 

 expedition ; it flew on board the frigate while off the Marianne Islands. Is it the same as the 

 Malayan bird I 



Lanius colluroides. Less. (Bel. Voy. 1834; p. 250), ex Pegu, hitherto regarded by Mr. Blyth 

 and other writers as a synonym of either this species or of L. cristatus, Linn., is, as was suspected 



g2 



