1922.] the Birds of Sind. 609 



This is one oE tliose species which fringe western Iudi;i on 

 tlieir autumn passiige to gain tlieir winter quarters via the 

 Arabian route (Yemen, Sept.) but do not seem to halt on 

 the return passage in spring. 



In the fiehl this species may be recognized from the 

 common vittatus by the absence of the white speculum in 

 the wing and the great amount of wliite in the tail. 



As I have already pointed out in the 'Birds of Meso- 

 potamia' (J. Bombay N. H. S. xxviii.), the supposed eastern 

 race 7v. kohylini of Buturlin is not good ; specimens from the 

 Caucasus (type-loc), Mesopotamia, Persia, and India differ 

 in no constant way from European examples. 



Lanius cristatus phcenicuroides Severtz. 



In Sind, as in the Punjab, Beluchistan, and probably 

 Mesopotamia, this Shrike, unlike isahellinus, is purely a 

 passage migrant; it passes through in small numbers from 

 mid-September to mid-October, and like several others 

 which take the Arabian route, misses on spring passage. So 

 far as I can ascertain from specimens in the British Museum, 

 this bird does not winter in India. The first record is that of 

 one obtained by Dr. Gould at Hyderabad and figured in 

 'The Ibis/ 1867, p. 224, pi. v. fig. ,1, under the name 

 of isahellinus ; it is a beautiful adult of this race. Murray 

 obtained one at Kotri, which was recorded (S.F. vii. p. I'iS) 

 as cristatus. This latter race does not occur in Sind, and 

 Mt. Aboo is about its limit west. 



These Shrikes come with the Red-backed, and I have 

 usually found them in old cultivation and desert scrub-junglo ; 

 ill the field these two in the immature stage are very difficult 

 to tell apart; in the hand, phaniiairoides \s less barred, less 

 rnfescent above, th(^ tail is paler rufous, and the outer web 

 of the outer tail-feathers is rufous, not white. 



Twelve adult males in the British ^Museum measure : wing 

 91-06".') : tail 78-83, occasionally ^^) mm. A similar number 

 of adult males of isabellinxis show that this has a longer tail 

 (82-88 mm.) l)ut not a longer wing. 



Hitherto I have followed Dr. Hartert (Vog. pal. F.) in 



