316 LANIID2B. 



Southern Mirzapore, but I do not know whether it breeds there. 

 The cry is quite like that of L. erythronotus. 



" The southern Jimit of Lanius nigriceps is interesting and re- 

 markable. It disappears after you go south-west of the Mykle 

 Bange, and on the Eange itself it is found only near marshy 

 places. This Mykle Eange extends as far east as TJnimerkuntuk, 

 with a spur going off north of that, and joining on with the 

 Kymore Eange, parts of which I explored in March last in Per- 

 gunnahs Agrore and Singrowlee. Down in those places this 

 Lanius was the Common Shrike, but south and west of Urnmer- 

 kuntuk all the Shrikes disappear more or less, and L. niyriceps 

 entirely." 



According to Mr. Hodgson's notes and figures this species breeds 

 in the Valley of Nepal, laying in April and May, and building in 

 thorny bushes, hedges, and trees, often in the immediate neigh- 

 bourhood of villages. The following are two of Mr. Hodgson's 

 notes : 



" Valley, May 18th. Nest near the top of a fir of mean size, 

 fixed securely in the midst of several diverging branches, made 

 compactly of dry grasses, of which the inner ones, which consti- 

 tute the lining, are hard and elastic, and well fitted to preserve 

 the shape, which is a deep cup with an internal cavity 3*5 inches 

 in diameter and nearly 3 deep. It contained six eggs, milk-and- 

 water white, with pale olive spots, chiefly at the large end, 

 measuring O95 by 0*68 inch. 



" Jahar Powah, May 16th. Ascent of Sheopoori, skirts of large 

 forests ; nest on lateral branches of a large tree made of downy 

 tops of plants, of moss and thick grasses strongly compacted, and 

 lined with fine elastic hair-like grass ; the cavity is circular, 3 inches 

 in diameter by more than 2 inches in depth : the whole nest is a 

 solid deep cup ; it contained four eggs, bluish white, with grey- 

 brown remote spots." 



Of another nest he gives the dimensions as : external diameter 

 4-25 inches ; external height 3-87 ; internal diameter 2*87 ; depth 

 of cavity 2'75. He figures it as a very compact and deep cup 

 resting on a horizontal fir branch between four or fire upright 

 sprays. He states that the young are ready to fly towards the 

 end of June, and that it breeds only once a year. 



Dr. Scully, also writing of Nepal, says : " This Shrike breeds 

 on the hillsides of the valley, usually in places where there is no 

 tree-forest, and not uncommonly in the neighbourhood of hamlets. 

 Several nests were obtained in May and June ; these were large 

 cup-shaped structures, composed of grass-roots, fibres, and fine 

 seed-down intermixed. The egg-cavity was circular, lined with 

 fine grass-stems, about 4 inches in diameter, and 2 inches 

 deep in the middle. The usual number of eggs is five ; the 

 ground-colour pale greenish white, boldly blotched and spotted 

 with olive marks in an irregular zone round the large end. A 

 clutch of five eggs taken on the 14th June gave the following 

 dimensions : 0-94 to 0-97 in length, and O65 to O7 in breadth." 



