PHONEUS NILOTICUS 287 
Genus VI. PHONEVUS. 
Type. 
Phoneus, Kaup, Skiz. Entw. Ges. und Nat. Syst. p. 33 (1829) P. senator. 
This genus contains the highly coloured birds known as the Woodchat 
Shrikes. They resemble the typical genus Zanius in all structural 
characters, and are only distinguished by their bright coloration. The 
crown and hind neck are bright rufous and the tail and wings are black, 
and the scapulars are white. The sexes are quite similar. 
Three species considered by some naturalists as subspecies are generally 
recognized and confined to the Palearctic and Northern Hthiopian regions. 
KEY TO THE SPECIES. 
a. Basal third of all the tail-feathers white; a white speculum niloticus. 
OR UN WAS § JG te Plo 5 bid o 6 5 © 
b. Central pair of tail feathers black to the bases. 
at, Wing with a white speculum, formed by the bases of the 
primaries . Sh teh oe Tem an ene senator. 
6%, Nowhitasonthe wing... . . « «+ + « « + « Obadwus. 
Phoneus niloticus. 
Enneoctonus niloticus, Bonaparte, Rev. Zool. 1853, p. 439 White Nile. 
Lanius senator niloticus, Hartert, Nov. Zool. 1906, p. 401, Vég. 
paliiark. Fauna, i. p. 436 (1907); Zedlitz, J. f. O. 1910, p. 807 
Eritrea ; Koenig, Ber. V. Intern. Orn. Kongr. 1910, p. 511 Sudan. 
Lanius paradoxus, A. E. Brehm, J. f. O. 1854, p. 75 Blue Nile ; Butler, 
Ibis, 1905, p. 328 Blue Nile ; 1908, p. 226 Bahr el Ghazal ; Ogilvie- 
Grant, Ibis, 1902, p. 415 Fasheda. 
Lanius senator paradoxus, Hartert, Noy. Zool. 1899, p. 417. 
Enneoctonus pectoralis et E. jardinii, v. Muller, J. f. O. 1855, p. 450 
Sennaar. 
Lanius cognatus, Brehm, Vogelfang, p. 84 (1855). 
Lanius rufus (non Gmel.) Ogilvie-Grant, Nov. Zool. 1902, p. 465; Ibis, 
1907, p. 591 Moradar ; Dresser, Ibis, 1905, p. 526, pl. xi. figs. 4, 5, 
eggs. 
Lanius senator rufus, Reichen. Vég. Afr. ii. p. 627 (1903). 
Adult male. Hinder two-thirds of the crown and back of neck rich cinna- 
mon, surrounded by a broad band of black covering the forehead, front of crown, 
sides of head and neck, and front of mantle; nearly always with some white 
feathers on sides of forehead; mantle shading into dusky grey on the middle 
back ; rump, upper tail-coverts and entire basal third of tail white, including 
the bases of the central pair of feathers, remainder of tail black with the ends of 
