LANIUS. 465 



narrowly, the others broadly, edged with pale rufous ; the middle 

 three pairs of tail-feathers black with rufous tips ; the others 

 brown with broader tips ; chin, throat, and upper breast white ; 

 remainder of lower plumage rufous, more or less albescent on the 

 middle of jbhe abdomen. 



Iris dark brown ; bill black ; legs and feet brownish black 

 (Butler). 



Length about 10; tail 4*7; wing 3*6; tarsus 1*1; bill from 

 gape '9. 



The amount of rufous on the back and scapulars varies very 

 much in this species, but not according to locality. Some Hima- 

 layan birds have the entire back and scapulars rufous. The 

 majority of the birds from Southern India have the upper back 

 grey and the scapulars merely tinged with rufous. Between these 

 t\vo extremes there is a connected series of specimens, and some 

 birds from Sind and Oudh are absolutely identical with others 

 from Ceylon. I am quite unable therefore to recognize two species 

 based on the colour of the back and scapulars, and I can discover 

 no other character by which the southern race L. canieeps may be 

 separated from L. erythronotiis. 



L. schacli from China resembles L. erythronotus, but is much 

 larger, the black of the forehead extends back to the eyes and is 

 sharply defined from the grey. 



L. bentet from Sumatra, Java, &c., is also an allied species in 

 which the black of the forehead is produced far back over the 

 crown and blends with the grey of the nape. 



L. fuscatus from Southern China has the greater part of the 

 head, wings, and tail black and the remainder of the plumage dark 

 brown. 



Distribution. The whole of India proper from Kashmir to Cape 

 Comorin and from Sind to Bengal ; also Ceylon. The furthest 

 point east to which this species extends appears to be Mymensing, 

 where Grod win- Austen met with it. 



This Shrike is apparently a permanent resident in most parts of 

 the plains and the lower ranges of the Himalayas, but in summer 

 it visits (rilgit and the higher ranges up to 6000 or 7000 feet. 

 It extends to Baluchistan, Afghanistan, and Turkistan, probably 

 as a summer visitor only to the latter country. 



Habits, $c. Breeds throughout India from March to September. 

 The nest and eggs are similar to those of the preceding species 

 and the latter measure about -92 by '71. 



477. Lanius tephronotus. The Grey-backed Shrike. 



Collurio tephronotus, Vigors, P. Z. S. 1831, p. 43; Hume, N. $ E. 



p. 171. 



Lanius tephronotus ( Vigors), Blyth, Cat. p. 151 ; Horsf. fy M. Cat. 



i, p. 166 ; Jerd. B. I. i, p. 403 ; Blanf. J. A. S. B. xli, pt. ii, p. 47 ; 



Anders. Yunnan Exped., Aves, p. 643 ; Hume fy Dav. S. F. vi, 



p. 202 ; Cripps, S. F. vii, p. 267 ; Hume, S. F. vii, p. 374 ; id. Cat. 



VOL. i. 2 E 



