6i6 Dr. C. B. Ticehurst on [Ibis, 



considering all the Red-tailed Shrikes as races of one species, 

 but I had not then read what Severtzoff wrote {see Ibis, 

 1876, p. 187) on this most difficult group. He is quite 

 definite that both pJtoniicuj'oides and isahelliniis breed in the 

 Seniiretchensk district of Turkestan, and my own researches 

 lead me to believe that both breed also in the Tchimkent 

 district (Syr Darya Province). Severtzoff got rather con- 

 fused on what he called varieties of phcenicnroides, but so far 

 as I can make out from his descriptions, his montann and 

 rujiceps are indivichial varieties of the bird ; on the other 

 hand, he is quite definite that another variety — caniceps — 

 Ye\A^ces. plioerAcuroides in the steppes and lowlands, the latter 

 being a bird of the highlands ; and he mentions the valley of 

 the Syr Darya, Mi, and Lepsa (S.E. of Lake Balkash) as 

 localities, all below 1000 feet. There are two specimens 

 which corres})ond well with his description of caniceps in the 

 British Museum from Sarj'^-su in the Kirghiz Steppes, and I 

 obtained a third, an adult male, on 26 October, 1918, at 

 Karachi which matches these well. These all differ re- 

 markably from typical phomicuroides in having the head and 

 rest of the upper parts uniformly grey. 



AVhether caniceps is a geographical race or only an 

 individual variation cannot with certainty be stated until we 

 know more of its exact range, both altitudinal and horizontal ; 

 in any case, caniceps cannot be used for it as the name is 

 preoccupied by Blyth (J. A. S. B. xv. p. 302, 1846). 



Lanius aurictdatus ( = L. niloticus), recorded from Daulat- 

 pur by Murray, was in reality sent to him by Mr. Cumming 

 from Bushire ! 



Lanius isabellinus H. & E. " Mulhalo." 



Hume says that he found this species abundant to a 

 degree throughout Sind ; avoiding the more richly cultivated 

 and irrigated portions of ihe country, it is to be met with 

 perched on the topmost tnig of almost every other bush in 

 the barer districts of the province. This is, I think, some- 

 what of an exaggeration ; it certainly is by no means rare, 

 but I have found it rather local in its distribution. The sort 



