466 LANIIDJS. 



no. 258 ; Scully, S. F. viii, p. 264 ; Gadow, Cat. B. M. viii, p. 2CO ; 

 Oates, B. B. i, p. 249 ; Hume, S. F. xi, p. 88 ; Oates in HumJs N. 

 $ E. 2nd ed. i, p. 325. 



Bhadraya, Nep. Hills; Bagaha tentha, Nep. plains; Sakrik-pho, 

 Lepch. ; Totem, Bhut. 



Coloration. Forehead and a broad band through the eye to the 

 ear-coverts deep black ; crown, nape, hind neck, back, scapulars, 

 and lesser wing-coverts dark bluish grey ; rump and upper tail- 

 coverts chestnut ; tail dark brown, obsoletely cross-rayed and the 

 feathers margined with rufous; median and greater coverts, 

 secondaries and tertiaries blackish, broadly margined with pale 

 rufous ; primary-coverts and primaries blackish, very narrowly 

 margined with rufous ; chin, throat, upper breast, and middle of 

 abdomen white ; remainder of lower plumage ferruginous. 



Birds with signs of immaturity about them, such as bars, have 

 the whole upper plumage suffused with rufous. 



Nestlings have the upper plumage rufous barred with black ; the 

 eye-band barely indicated ; throat whitish ; lower plumage rufous 

 barred with black. 



Bill black ; base of lower mandible yellowish horny ; iris dark 

 brown ; feet and claws black (SeiiUy). 



Length 9'5 ; tail 5 ; wing 4'2 ; tarsus 1*1 ; bill from gape 1. 



Distribution. A winter visitor to the Himalayas between the Sutlej 

 valley and Assam, to the plains of Bengal and Assam, the hill-tracts 

 south of the Brahmaputra, Mauipur, Cachai*, Tipperah, and Burma, 

 extending down to about Pahpoon on the Sal ween river. I failed to 

 meet with this species in Pegu, but Blyth records it from Arrakan. 

 In summer this Shrike appears to ascend the Himalayas, to 

 breed from 5000 to 9000 feet, or even higher, and to penetrate into 

 Tibet and Western China. 



Habits, fyc. A nest found at Bhim Tal in Kumaun, on the 28th 

 May, by Colonel Gr. F. L. Marshall contained five eggs, and was in 

 a 'bush about three feet from the ground. There is little that is 

 trustworthy on record about the nidih'cation of this Shrike. 



478. Lanius collurio. The Red-backed Shrike. 



Lanius collurio, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 136 (1766) ; Butler, S. F. iii, 

 p. 463; Hume, Cat. no. 260 bis; Scully, Ibis, 1881, p. 435; 

 Gadow, Cat. B. M. viii, p. 286 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 145. 



Enneoctonus collurio, Blyth, Cat. p. 153. 



Coloration. Feathers at the base of the upper mandible and a 

 broad band through the eye to the end of the ear-coverts black ; 

 forehead, crown, nape, hind neck, rump, and upper tail-coverts 

 bluish grey ; back, scapulars, and the visible portions of the wing- 

 coverts dull chestnut ; quills and primary-coverts dark brown 

 margined with pale rufous ; the tertiaries almost entirely rufous 

 with pale margins ; the four middle tail-feathers black ; the others 

 two thirds white, then bla'ck and tipped white; lower plumage 

 white, tinged with pink on the breast and abdomen. 



