LASTTTS. 311 



They vary in length from 0*9 to 1-17 inch, and in width from 

 0*75 to 0*83 inch ; but the average of more than fifty eggs is 1'03 

 by 0-79 inch. 



473. Lanius vittatns. The Bay-backed Shrike. 



Lanius hardwickii ( Vigors), Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 405. 



Lanius vittatus, Dum., Hume, Rough Draft N. fy E. no. 260. 



The Bay-backed Shrike breeds throughout the plains of India 

 and in the Sub-Himalayan Eanges up to an elevation of fully 

 4000 feet. 



The laying-season lasts from April to September, but the great 

 majority of eggs are found during the latter half of June and July ; 

 in fact, according to my experience, the great body of the birds do 

 not lay until the rains set in. 



The nests are placed indifferently on all kinds of trees (I have 

 notes of finding them on mango, plum, orange, tamarind, toon, &c.), 

 never at any great elevation from the ground, and usually in small 

 trees, be the kind chosen what it may. Sometimes a high hedge- 

 row, such as our great Customs hedge, is chosen, and occasionally 

 a solitary caper or stunted acacia-bush. 



The nests (almost invariably fixed in forks of slender boughs) 

 are neat, compactly and solidly built cups, the cavities being deep 

 and rather more than hemispherical, from 2-25 to fully 3*5 inches 

 in diameter, and from 1*5 to 2 inches in depth. The nest- walls 

 vary from 0*5 to 1*25 inch in thickness. The composition of the 

 nest is various. The following are brief descriptions which I have 

 noted from time to time : 



" Compactly woven of grass-stems and a few fine twigs, but with 

 more or less wool, rag, cotton, or feathers incorporated : there is 

 no lining. 



" The nest was rather massive, externally composed of wool, 

 rags, cotton, thread, and feathers, and a little grass ; the cavity 

 rather neatly lined with fine grass. 



" Composed almost entirely of cobweb, with a few soft feathers, 

 wool, string, rags, and a few pieces of very fine twigs compactly 

 woven. The interior was lined with fine straw and fibrous roots." 



Elsewhere I have recorded the following note on the modification 

 of this species : 



" This bird, or rather birds of this species, have been laying ever 

 since the middle of April, but nests were then few and far be- 

 tween, and now in July they are common enough. The nest that 

 we had just found was precisely like twenty others that we had 

 found during the past two months. Eather deep, with a nearly 

 hemispherical cavity ; very compactly and firmly woven of fine 

 grass, rags, feathers, soft twine, wool, and a few fine twigs, the 

 whole entwined exteriorly with lots of cobwebs ; and the interior 

 cavity about 1| inch deep by 2-J in diameter, neatly lined with very 

 fine grass, one or two horsehairs, shreds of string, and one or two 

 soft feathers. The walls were a good inch in thickness. The nest 



