460 



the terminal half black with narrow white tips ; secondaries with the 

 outer webs black, tipped white, the inner webs white except at the 

 base, where they are black ; tertiaries black with white tips ; the 

 whole lower plumage pure white. 



Iris dark brown ; legs, feet, and bill black (Butler). 



Length about 10; tail 4-6 ; wing 4-3; tarsus 1*15; bill from 

 gape 1-05. 



The amount of black on the forehead and white on the tail in- 

 creases with age. The amount of white on the wing appears to 

 be constant at all ages. 



Distribution. A permanent resident in the plains of India from 

 Sind and the Punjab to the Rajmehal Hills, Manbhoom and 

 Lohardugga in Western Bengal ; to the south this species does not 

 appear to be found further than Belgaum, from which part Butler 

 records it, and Chanda in the Central Provinces, where Blanford 

 met with it. It is confined to the plains and does not ascend the 

 Himalayas nor any of the hill-ranges. It extends into Afghanistan. 



Habits, $c. Breeds according to locality from January to 

 August, constructing a very massive nest of varied materials in trees 

 in open plains. The eggs, varying in number from three to six, 

 measure about 1'03 bv '79. 



470. Lanius assimilis. The Allied Grey Shrike. 



Lanius assimilis, Brehm, Journ. fur Orn. 1854, p. 146 ; Gadoiv, 

 Cat. B. M. viii, p. 249. 



Coloration. Resembles L. lahtora in general appearance. Differs 

 in having only the hairs overhanging the nostrils black, not the 

 forehead ; the upper plumage pale grey ; the lesser wing-coverts 

 entirely grey ; the white on the inner webs of the secondaries less 

 pure and rather smaller in extent, and the lower plumage faintly 

 tinged with pink. 



The colour of the iris &c. does not appear to have been recorded. 



Length about 9 ; tail 4-3 ; wing 4'2 ; tarsus 1 ; bill from gape 1. 



Distribution. No specimens of this species are contained in the 

 Hume Collection, but there are three in the British Museum which 

 were obtained within our limits one at Daulatpur in Sind, and 

 one at Karachi by Dr. Gould, and a third in the Punjab by Briga- 

 dier Hearsay. Dr. Aitchison procured this bird in Afghanistan, 

 and it occurs at Fao on the Persian Gulf and in Mesopotamia. 



Gadow gives the range of this species as extending from Sennaar 

 and the White Nile through Turkestan to the Amoor. 



471. Lanius fallax. Finsch's Grey Shrike. 



Lanius fallax, Finsch, Trans. Z. Soc. vii. p. 249, pi. xxv (1870) j 

 Gadow, Cat. B. M. viii, p. 247, pi. viii. ' 



Coloration. Resembles L. lahtora in general appearance. Differs 

 in having the black on the frontal part of the head confined to the 



