1922.] the Birds of Sind. 607 



fresh egos on 18 June ; Barnes records nests in August. The 

 "babooP^ and " kandi," both thorny trees, are abnost invariably 

 selected, and the nests may be from three to twenty-five feet 

 from the ground. One nest, a very pretty though conspicuous 

 object, was composed of little else than Dove's feathers, and it 

 was not surprising, therefore, that the eggs had been sucked. 



The Sindhi name for this bird means " the deaf one," no 

 doubt applied to it on account of its confiding and fearless 

 habits ; but this name is, or was, applied also to quite a 

 different bird. 



The plumages of this bird are little understood, and are 

 difficult to interpret. The adults are alike in both sexes, save 

 that the female has rather a narrower black forehead. The 

 juvenile is typical of all Shrikes and is very variable ; some 

 hardly show any trace of sqiiamation on the under parts, and 

 the upper parts vary a good deal in colour ; the wings and tail 

 are quite different from the adult's, the former being brown 

 with no white speculum and the latter light bay, the outer 

 tail-feather being rusty white, all with subterminal narrow- 

 black wavy markings. The body-feathers, a variable number 

 of wing-coverts, and the tertials are moulted, also the central 

 and sometimes other tail-feathers. In this, the first winter 

 plumage, the bird is a dull edition of the adult, but it totally 

 lacks the black forehead and the ear-coverts are brown ; it 

 presumably moults to adult dress the next spring. 



Lanius schach erythronotus (Vig.). 



Tlie Uufous-backed Shrike is a constant resident, and I 

 was unable to detect any migratory movement of any kind. 

 It is much more a bird of cultivation tluin is vittatus, while 

 both eipially affect forest and scrub-jungh' ; in the desert 

 proper, however, this species is but seldom seen, and there- 

 fore it is rather less widely distributed than its smaller 

 relative ; however, in the better cultivated parts it is 

 numerous enough. It occurs out to the Beluchi boundary, 

 w'here on the Habb River I saw young on the wing on 

 16 June. 



It is an early breeder, and tirst nests may be looked for at 



9 o '> 



