LANIUS. 205 



It has been procured in the Tenasserim province of Burmah, at Kyouknyat, 

 and is found over a great portion of Northern India. Hodgson says it is 

 common in Nepaul in the open country and in groves and gardens during 

 winter. It has a loud harsh voice, and, like all true Shrikes, is bold and daring 

 in its manners. It breeds wiihin our limits only in the Himalayas, and chiefly 

 in the interior at heights of from 5,000 to 8,000 feet above the sea level. In 

 the interior of Sikkim, in the Sutlej Valley near Chini in Lahoul, and well 

 up the valley of the Beas, they are pretty common during the summer. They 

 lay from May to July. Hume adds Darjeeling and Murree as localities 

 whence eggs have been obtained. The eggs, 3 4 in number, are not 

 unlike those of L. lahtora ; the ground is of a pale creamy colour, thickly 

 spotted and blotched all over with olive brown and pale purple. Size 0^97 

 to ro6 inch x 0*76100-81. 



702. LaniUS erythronotuS (Vigors), Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 290; 

 ' Blylh, J. A. S. Beng. xv. p. 302 ; Jerd. t B. 2nd. i. p. 402, No. 257 ; Murray, 

 ITdbk. ZooL, Sfc., Sind, p. 134 ; id., Vert. Zool. Sind,p. 121 ; id. t Zool. Beloo- 

 chistan and Southern Afghanistan, p. 52 ; Sivinhoe, Birds of South Afgh., 

 Ibis, 1884, p. 104 ; Gadow, Cat. B. Br. Mus. viii. p. 263. Collurio erythro- 

 notus, Vigors, P. Z. S. 1831, p. 42; Gould., Cent. Hun. B. pi. xii. fig. 2; 

 Hume, Sir. F. 1873, p. 174; id., Nests and Eggs, Ind. B. p. 167. Lanius 

 caniceps, Blyth, J. A. S. Beng. xv. p. 302; Gadow, Cat. B. Br. Mus. Sub- 

 sp. a. viii. p. 265. The RUFOUS-BACKED SHRIKE. 



A black frontal band continued through the eyes to the back of the ear- 

 coverts ; head, neck and upper back pale ashy grey ; lower back, rump, upper 

 tail coverts, lower scapulars, flanks, lower abdomen and vent rufous, a little 

 lighter on the vent ; chin, throat and upper breast white, in some a buffy tinge ; 

 primaries dusky with a small white spot at the base, and the edge of the wing 

 white ; secondaries dusky, faintly margined whitish on the external webs in 

 some specimens, in others absent ; tertiaries and wing coverts dark brown or 

 blackish, edged and margined on the external web with whitish ; tail, with the 

 central feathers, black or dark brown, lateral feathers greyish brown, edged and 

 tipped whitish. Bill and legs dark brown ; irides dark brown. 



Length. 975 to lO inches; wing 3-5 to 375 ; tail 4'5 to 5. 



The young has the head, neck and mantle ashy brown ; the back, rump and 

 upper tail coverts pale orange rufous ; all the feathers of the upper surface 

 paler at tip, and barred with dusky brown ; the wing feathers edged with dull 

 rufous ; tail ashy brown, marked with indistinct wavy lines across. 



Hab India generally and Ceylon, Beloochistan (Quetta), S. Afghanistan, 

 Kutch, Kattiawar, Jodhpore, N. Guzerat. 



It is found also in Afghanistan, Punjab, N.-W. Provinces, Cashmere 

 and the N.-W. Himalayas, extending throughout India nearly to Ceylon. 



