246 FISCUS NUBICUS 
Egypt in the British Museum, twelve of which were taken in 
March and two in February. 
The most southern locality yet recorded is the Magois 
country, near Lake Rudolf, where Dr. Donaldson procured a 
female in February. 
The habits of the Masked Shrike are like those of the 
Wood-Chat ; but it is rather more partial to groves of trees, 
where its well-inarked plumage renders it very conspicuous. 
With regard to its breeding, the Rey. Canon Tristram writes: 
“The nest is remarkably neat, like that of the Chaffinch, but 
of course wider and shallower, placed on a branch or fork and 
lined with fine roots or fibres. The eggs, four or five in 
number, though Shrike-like, have a distinct character, the 
ground being generally olive and the spots always arranged 
more or less in a zone near the broad end. They can scarcely 
be mistaken for those of any other bird.” They measure 0°77 
to 0°87 by 0°59 to 0°68. 
There is a large series of this species in the British Museum 
in addition to those already mentioned, viz.: Abyssinia— 
Kumayli, February, and Ain, August (Blanford); Billen, 
January (Degen); Kassim, January (Lovat). Sowdan—Khar- 
tum, February, March (Dunn); Renk, January (Zaphiro) ; 
Kaka, February; El Dueim, May 23 ; Fashoda, April (Hawker). 
Also from Arabia (Yerbury), Persia (Witherby and Gillett), 
Egypt (Shelley and Gurney), Palestine (Tristram), Smyrna 
(Kriiper), and Cyprus (Lilford and Miss Bate). At Tring 
there are examples from Eritrea, November (Beccari) ; 
Dongola, February and March; Naikhale on the Atbara, 
February ; Shendi, March (N. C. Rothschild and Wollaston), 
and Khartum, March (Emin Pasha). 
