al 
264 FISCUS EXCUBITORIUS 
were in the nests and hardly fledged. Gurney found this bird 
not uncommon in the bush country of British East Africa. 
Specimens were obtained at Nairobi, on the Thika River, and at 
Kapiti. “ It was generally seen in pairs, and was shy and not 
easily approached. I several times watched one as it sat on 
the outside branch of a tree, and from this elevated post made 
repeated flights, like a Drongo or Flycatcher, at some passing 
insect. On three different occasions I found dead lizards 
impaled on thorns: this may have been done by this or by 
the previous species, but L. caudatus was seen to fly from one 
bush on which lizards were impaled.” 
The egg is of a broad oval, somewhat pointed, and slightly 
glossy. It is creamy white, indistinctly spotted with yellowish 
brown and pale lavender grey, and measures 0°95 x 0°75. 
There are examples of this species in the British Museum 
from Dar-es-Salaam (Kirk), and Kilimanjaro (Johnston), in 
German Hast Africa; and from Ndi (Hildebrandt), Mombasa 
(Percival and Buxton), Melinde (Kirk), Lamu (Jackson), 
Kitui (Hildebrandt and Storey), and Machakos (Hinde), in 
British East Africa; in Tring I have examined an example 
from Umbugwe (Neumann) some distance south-west of 
Kilimanjaro. On account of the previous use of the name 
“caudatus”’ by Brehm, Hartert has recently renamed the 
species Lanius cabanist. 
Fiscus excubitorius. 
Lanius excubitorius, Préy. et Des Murs in Lefebr. Voy. Abyss., 
pp. 99, 170, pl. 8 (1850), Abyssinia ; Gadow. Cat. B. M. viii. p. 253 
(1883 pt.); Ogilvie-Grant, Nov. Zool. 1902, p. 469; Reichen. 
Vog. Afr. ii. p. 615 (1903 pt.) ; Ogilvie-Grant, Ibis, 1904, p. 266, 
Hawash Valley and Aroussi; Reichen. J. f. O. 1905, p. 427; 
Erlanger J. f. O. 1905, p. 702 Show; Schiebel, J. f. O. 1906, 
p- 172, pl. G, fig. 2. 
Fiscus excubitorius, Shelley, B. Afr. i. No. 698 (1896 pt.). 
Lanius excubitorius intercedens, Neumann, J. f. O. 1905, p. 228 
Hawash, Shoa. 
