174 BIRDS OF TUNISIA 



and May. A wild jujube, or mimosa bush is generally chosen as 

 a site for the nest, and a better or more inpenetrable stronghold could 

 scarcely be found. The nest, which as a rule is placed in the centre 

 and thickest part of the bush, at a height varying from six to twelve 

 feet from the ground, is rather a bulky structure, composed of small 

 twigs and coarse grasses, matted together with wool or hair, and often 

 with a plentiful admixture of the cottony flowers or seed-pods of some 

 composite plant. Pieces of rag or cotton stuff, picked up near some 

 Arab doitar, are often introduced into the mass. The eggs, of which 

 four to six is the usual number laid, vary considerably in shape and 

 size, as well as in colouring and marking. Specimens in my collection 

 vary from almost white to a dull greenish or yellowish-white, with 

 grey shell marks and yellowish-brown surface spots. Average 

 measurements 25 x 19 mm. 



LANIUS POMERANUS, Sparrman. 

 WOODCHAT-SHRIKE. 



Lanius pomeranus, Sparrm. Mus. Carls, pi. 1. (1786) ; Wliitaker, Ibis, 



1895, p. 97. 

 Lanius auriculatus, Gadotv, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. viii, p. 283, 

 Lanius rutilus, 21allierbe, Cat. Itais. d'Ois. Alcj. p. 10 (1846). 

 Enneoctonus rufus, Loche, Exjd. Sci. Alg. Ois. ii, p. 52 (1867). 

 Lanius rufus, Koenig, -J. f. 0. 1888, p. 180. 

 Lanius rutilans, Koenig, J. f. 0. 1892, p. 384. 

 Lanius senator rutilans, Erlanger, J.f. 0. 1899, p. 502. 



Description. — Adult male, spring, from Gafsa, South Tunisia. 



Forehead, space round eye, ear-coverts and sides of neck black ; lores, 

 and a small patch on each side of the bill, as well as a few feathers just 

 behind the eye, white ; crown, nape and mantle rich rufous-chestnut ; upper 

 back black, slightly tinged with rufous, and joining the black on the sides 

 of the neck ; lower back and upper tail-coverts grey ; scapulars and rump 

 white ; primaries blackish-brown, with white bases, forming a distinct white 

 alar patch ; secondaries and wing-coverts blackish-brown, fringed with buffy- 

 white ; the two central rectrices blackish, the adjoining tail-feathers with 

 white tips and bases, the exterior rectrices entirely white, with the exception 

 of a blackish patch on the centre of the inner web ; entire underpai'ts white, 

 tinged with pale buff. 



