HEMIPUS. 



The little Pied Shrike is generally seen in small parties of five or six, 

 wandering about from tree to tree, every now and then darting on insects in 

 the air. It has a pleasant song, which, however, is not often heard. It 

 frequents thick forests, and like the Drongo, perches on the outer branches of a 

 tree. According to Davison it also searches the leaves like a Wood Shrike. 

 A nest taken by Mr. Davison at Ootacamund, was a small shallow cup made of 

 grass and roots, covered with cobwebs and lichens and sparingly lined. It was 

 placed on a branch of a tall tree and contained three eggs, which were pale 

 greenish marked with umber- brown. Jerdon says the markings of the eggs 

 he obtained at Darjeeling were a few rusty red spots. 



175- HemipUS ObSCUrU8> Hors/. Tr. Linn. Soc.xm. p. 146, Bly . 

 J.A.S.B. xv. p. 305 ; id. and Wald. B. Burnt, p. 122; Jerd. B. Ind. \. 

 p, 413; Sharpe, Ibis, 1877, P- 2O - Tephrodornis obscura, Gray, Gen. B. 

 App. p. 13. HORSFIELD'S OBSCURE or PIED SHRIKE. 



Wings, tail and the whole upper plumage glossy greenish black, except the 

 shorter upper tail coverts and the tips of the feathers of the rump, which are 

 white ; outer tail feathers edged on either side with white. Cheeks, sides of 

 neck and entire throat pure white ; breast pinkish ashy, rest of under surface 

 pure white, the flanks washed with greyish ; thighs whitish. 



The female is similar to the male, but the black is replaced everywhere by 

 brown. 



Iris brown ; bill and legs black. 



Length. S'5 to 5*7 inches; wing 2*6; tail 2*25 ; tarsus 0*5 ; culmen 0*6. 



Hab. Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Malacca, ranging into Burmah and Tenna- 

 serim. 



176. Hemipus capitalis, McCUlL P. Z. S., 1839, p. 157; Biyth, 



Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 154 ; Godwin Austen, J. A. S B., i87o, p. 99 ; Jerd. 

 Ibis, 1872, p. 1 16. Hemipus picatus (nee Sykes) Gray, Cat. Mam., Y., 

 Nepaul-, Bly. and Wald B. Burm. p. 122. The BROWN-BACKED PIED SHRIKE. 



General colour above brown, the lower back with a distinct white bar across it, 

 caused by the feathers being white with brown subterminal bars ; rump pure 

 white ; upper tail coverts glossy black ; some of the outer ones with tiny white 

 tips ; head and nape glossy greenish black ; chin and cheeks white ; throat, 

 breast and sides of body drab-brown ; abdomen under tail and under wing 

 coverts white ; thighs brown ; wing coverts glossy greenish black, the least series 

 washed with the same brown as the back, the median and greater series broadly 

 edged with white, forming a wing bar ; quills black, the secondaries externally 

 margined with white, in continuation of the bar formed by the coverts ; tail 

 glossy black, all but the two central feathers tipped with white, increasing very 

 much in extent towards the outermost, which are edged with white along the 

 outer web for all but the basal third ; bill and legs black, iris sienna yellow. 



