LANIARIUS MAJOR 307 
the Bahr el Ghazal province of the Sudan and the Rift Valley, 
beyond which its place is taken by L. aethiopicus. 
The type, described by Hartlaub, came from Elmina in the 
Gold Coast Colony; here I have found them abundant, 
frequenting the jungle, which resounds with their sweet flute- 
like notes, as pairs answer each other at short intervals from 
distant bushes. It is as Ussher remarks “a powerful bird 
for its size and appears to be much dreaded by other small 
birds.” Alexander obtained it at Kpong and Kintampo in the 
interior of the Gold Coast Colony, and states that it frequents 
marshy situations, especially along the lower reaches of the 
Volta river, and that it hasa harsh guttural note. In Togoland 
and Camaroon it has been met with by the German collectors 
Biittner, Zenker and Carnap, while Hartert found it at Loko 
on the Benue in Nigeria. 
In Central Africa it was first collected by Jackson at Mount 
Elgon and one of his examples was described as a new species 
by Sharpe. Jackson (Ibis, 1901, p. 37) writes: “This fine 
Shrike is almost invariably found in pairs, and either in or on 
the outskirts of thick bush. Its cry may be heard throughout 
the day in the localities it frequents, but can scarcely be called 
a call-note in the true sense of the word, as the two birds are 
nearly always quite close together when they give utterance to 
it. It has a beautiful bell-like note. The cock bird repeats it 
three times, the hen only once. I have several times watched 
them in the act of calling.” 
From Uganda it extends northwards as far as the 
Bahr el Ghazal Province of the Sudan, whence there are 
two examples in the British Museum, one recently collected 
by Gilbert Blaine, the other by Bohndorf at Semnio. To 
the south it ranges to Lake Nyasa, where according to 
Reichenow it was obtained by Fiilleborn at Langenburg. 
The following list of the examples in the British Museum 
- will perhaps best illustrate the distribution of this form :— 
