3/6 MR. R. SWINHOE ON THE BIRDS OF CHINA. [May 2, 



brow white. A male from Amoy agrees with specimens from the 

 Amoor and Malacca. Adult female resembles the male. 



302. LANIUS LUCIONENSIS, L. ; Gmel. Syst. Nat. 1788, p. 299 ; 

 Ibis, 1860, p. 59, 1861, pp. 43, 255, 340, 1863, p. 272, 1866, 

 pp. 135, 295, 394 ; P. Z. S. 1863, p. 286, 1870, p. 428. 



Lanius schwaneri, Bp. Consp. Av. i. p. 363. 



Upper parts light liver-brown ; forehead greyish white, with well- 

 defined white eyebrow. Adult female resembles the male. The 

 commonest species that passes through Amoy. Those collected on 

 passage through Formosa are all immature, as if they had not 

 strength to make the through voyage to the Philippines without 

 rest. L. schwaneri of Borneo seems, from the description, to be 

 based on a partially mature female of this species. Found in 

 summer as far north as Talien Bay. 



303. LANIUS INCERTUS, n. sp. 



Crown, from beak to occiput, cinereous, with no eyebrow ; rest of 

 upper parts reddish brown, brighter on the rump. One male spe- 

 cimen procured at Amoy from a party of the last. 



These four red-tailed Shrikes may be considered geographical 

 races, or representative species, each reserving to itself an area in 

 South-eastern Asia for its winter haunt, and another in North-eastern 

 Asia for its summer haunt. The L. cristatus, that spreads through- 

 out India in winter, seems to seek a family home in Dauria and the 

 country directly north of India, extending to Trans- Baikal ; L. lucio- 

 nensis travels across the sea from its warm winter retreat in the 

 Philippines, and spends its summer in North China, extending its 

 range to Talien Bay ; the southernmost species, L. superciliosus, 

 comes from Malacca, and, passing the summer range of the latter, 

 seeks the high latitudes of Amoorland and northern Japan as more 

 suitable for the nurture of its offspring. As in the case of the 

 Limicolce, those that go furthest north to breed, hurry furthest south 

 to escape the rigours of winter ; such is, apparently, the case with 

 L. superciliosus. But this is scarcely a rule with land-birds ; for 

 this Shrike's winter compatriot, L. magnirostris, as I have shown 

 (P. Z. S. 1870, p. 131), is contented to accommodate himself at a 

 halfway station on the journey in Central China. The route taken 

 by L. superciliosus is not down the China coast, or we should meet 

 him straggling down in spring and autumn, as all the migrants do 

 that travel by land. He probably takes the more inland course 

 followed by many birds that summer in North China and the Amoor. 

 How, then, does it occasionally turn up with the large flights of L. 

 lucionensis bound to the Philippines and Borneo ? How, further, 

 does it happen that L. cristatus should step out of its way and 

 straggle on a tour to a country widely separate from its regular 

 winter quarters ? I would suggest as an explanation that the routes 

 travelled by the three species n.ust somewhere cross or touch, arid 

 that the outliers of the bird-caravans would get attracted to the 

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