GRAUCALUS. 497 



parts ; remainder of lower plumage greyish white ; wing-coverts 

 like the back ; bastard wing black ; primaries and primary-coverts 

 dark browu, very narrowly edged with grey; secondaries more 

 broadly edged with the same ; tertiaries grey on the whole outer 

 web and brown on the inner ; middle tail-feathers ashy, tipped 

 paler ;' the others blackish, all tipped with greyish white, increasing 

 in extent outwardly, with the bases grey, this colour decreasing in 

 extent outwardly and being absent on the outer ones. 



Female. The black on the face is paler, and this part as well as 

 the ear-coverts are of much the same grey as the head; the 

 general tone of the plumage is lighter. The female is seldom 

 without a few indications of immaturity, these signs being visible 

 chiefly in the shape of obsolete bars. 



The young have most of the upper plumage tipped and mar- 

 gined with pale ferruginous, and the lower parts nearly pure 

 white. 



Iris hazel-brown to lake ; eyelids grey ; inside of mouth flesh- 

 colour ; bill, legs, and claws black. 



This bird varies excessively in plumage and in size ; the plumage 

 varies according to age and sex, and the size according to locality. 

 The largest birds occur, as a rule, in Burma and Northern India, 

 and the smallest in Ceylon, where some birds have the wing less 

 than 6 inches in length. G. layardi appears to have been based 

 on one stage of the immature plumage. 



Length 10 to 12 ; tail 4'3 to 5'8 ; wing 5-8 to 7 ; tarsus 1 to 

 I'l ; bill from gape 1*3 to 1*5. 



Distribution. The whole Empire and Ceylon, except in the Him- 

 alayas west of the Sutlej river, and in portions of Sind, Rajputana, 

 and the Punjab. 



Habits, <Sj'c. Breeds from May to October, constructing a shallow 

 nest of slender twigs in a lofty branch of a tree and laying three 

 eggs, which are pale green with brown and purple marks, and 

 measure about 1*26 by <( J. 



511. Graucalus dobsoni. Dobsons Cuckoo-shrike. 



Graucalus dobsoni, Ball, J. A. S. B. xli, pt. ii, p. 281 (1872) ; id. S. F. 



i, p. 66; Wald. Ibis, 1873, p. 312 ; Hume, S. F. ii, p. 206; id. Cat. 



no. 270 ter. 

 Artamides dobsoni ( Ball), Sharpe, Cat. B. M. iv, p. 20. 



Coloration. Male. Lores, about the nostrils, and a broad band 

 through the eye to the ear-coverts black ; the whole upper plumage 

 and lesser wing-coverts iron-grey ; median and greater coverts and 

 quills very dark brown or black, very narrowly edged with pale 

 grey ; tail black, the outer feathers narrowly tipped white ; cheeks, 

 chin, throat, and breast pale iron-grey ; remainder of the lower 

 plumage, with the under wing-coverts and axillaries, white, nar- 

 rowly but distinctly barred with blackish brown. 



Female. Resembles the male, but has the chin, throat, and breast 

 barred like the remainder of the lower plumage. 



VOL. i. 2K 



