THE SHRIKES. 171 



type of egg, the tint varies from olive to pale green, and the 

 markings are brown, the underlying spots being violet-grey, the 

 latter being very large and distinct ; there is the same tendency 

 to form a ring near the larger end as in the cream-coloured 

 type, but many eggs have the spots distributed over the whole 

 surface. Axis, o - 8-o'95 inch ; diam, o*65~o'7. (Plate XXXI. , 

 Fig 4-) 



THE- WOODCHAT. LANIUS POMERANUS. 



Laniits rutilus, Macg., Br. B., hi., p. 502 (1840) ; Lilford, Col. 



Fig. Br. B., pt. xv. (1890). 

 Lanius auriculatus, P. L. S. Mull. ; Dresser, B. Eur., iii., p. 



407, pi. 151 (1871); Newt. ed. Yarr., ii., p. 215 (1872); 



Gadow, Cat. B. Brit. Mus., viii., p. 283 (-1883). 

 Lanius pomeranus, Scop.; B. O. U. List Br. B., p. 38 (1883); 



Saunders, Man., p. 145 (1889) 

 Lanius rufus, Briss. ; Seeb., Br. B., i., p. 610 (1883). 



Adult Male Back black, with conspicuously white scapulars; 

 lower back bluish-grey ; the rump and upper tail-coverts while; 

 wings black, with a large white speculum formed by the white 

 bases to the primaries; tail-feathers black, with a narrow white 

 tip, the bases of the feathers white, scarcely visible on the 

 centre ones, but extending gradually towards the outer ones, 

 which are more broadly tipped with white, the outermost one 

 white along its outer web ; crown of head and hind-neck rich 

 chestnut ; a broad frontal band, as well as the feathers round 

 the eye and the ear-coverts black, extending in a band down 

 the sides of the neck; a basal spot of white on each side of the 

 base of the forehead ; cheeks and under surface of body, in- 

 cluding the under wing-coverts, creamy-white; the lower primary- 

 coverts dusky blackish, forming a patch near the edge of the wing ; 

 quills dusky below, white along the inner webs ; bill and feet 

 black ; "iris hazel Total length, 7*5 inches; culmen, 075; 

 wing, 4-0; tail, 3-1 ; tarsus, 1-05. 



Adult Female Similar to the male, but browner, the parts 

 which are black in the male being blackish-brown in the 

 female ; the frontal band, as well as the ear-coverts, and the 

 sides of the neck mixed with brown, and therefore not so 



