92 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 



Habits. — Fairly common in scrub jungle near the sea through- 

 out its range. It is rarely found far inland. It perches on 

 the tops of trees and bushes, darting down to the ground on 

 its prey, which consists chiefly of grasshoppers, and returning 

 to its perch. It also feeds on frogs, which it impales on thorns 

 in the regular Butcher Bird fashion. It is noisy and restless 

 in the mornings and evenings, uttering its harsh cry and flying 

 from bush to bush. The birds breed from February till about 

 May, building a cup-shaped nest of rough grass, stalks, and 

 slender twigs, lined with rootlets or other soft material, and 

 placed in a thorn bush. The eggs appear to be four in number. 

 The ground colour is pale greenish or creamy-white, with 

 blackish-brown spots, which frequently form a zone at the 

 larger end. Average size • 91 by • 70. 



LaNIUS CRIST ATUS. 



The Brown Shrike. 



Lanius cristatus (Gates, Vol. I., p. 468 ; Legge, p. 377). 



Description. — Adult male : Forehead and a streak over the 

 eye white ; a broad black band from the nostrils through the 

 eye to the ear coverts ; the rest of the upper plumage and the 

 lesser wing coverts reddish-brown, the colour being brightest 

 on the crown, nape, and sides of the neck ; the larger wing 

 coverts and the wing quills dark brown with rufous edges, 

 which are broadest on the secondaries ; tail feathers reddish- 

 brown with paler tips ; cheeks, chin, and throat white ; rest 

 of lower plumage fulvous. 



In females the black streak through the eye is smaller and 

 brownish. 



In young birds on their first migration the crown and back 

 are of the same rufous brown hue ; the lower surface is largely 

 marked with wavy, narrow bars, especially on the breast and 

 flanks ; these bars disappear very graduaUy, most birds 

 retaining slight traces of barring on the flanks. 



The tip of the bill and the greater part of the upper mandible 

 blackish, the r3mainder pale bluish ; iris dark brown ; legs 

 and feet bluish-gray to blackish slate-colour. 



Length 7*5; wing 3-45; tail 3 '4; tarsus 1; bill from 

 gape 'So. 



