282 



Genus FISCUS, Bonap. 



Fiscus humeralis (Stanley}. 



(Plate XII. fig. 13.) 



Lanius humeralis, Gadoiv, Cat. Birds B. M. viii. p. 255 (1883) j Grant, 



Nov. Zool. ix. p. 466 (1902). 

 Fiscus humeralis, Sharpe, Hand-l iv. p. 284 (1903). 



Four eggs of the Eastern Fiscal Shrike differ somewhat in shape 

 and vary from a broad oval to a somewhat pointed oval. All have 

 the ground-colour greenish white, spotted and marked with pale 

 rusty brown and larger underlying markings of lavender-grey, 

 which are mostly clustered so as to form a wide irregular band 

 round the larger end. In two of the eggs, the markings are much 

 stronger and deeper in colour, while in the fourth they are 

 comparatively faint. The eggs measure from -85 to '9 in length, 

 and -6 to -68 in breadth. 



4. Harrar, S. Abyssinia, June. Mr. Zaphiro [C.]. 



Fiscus collar is (Linn.}. 



Lanius collaris, Thien. Fortpflanz. ges. Vog. p. 325, tab. xxxi, fig. 6 

 (1845-54) ; Sharpe, ed. Layard's Birds 8. Africa, p. 374 (1876- 

 84) ; Gadoiv, Cat. Birds B. M. viii. p. 255 (1883) ; Nehrk. Kat. 

 Eiersamml p. 72 (1899); Haagner, Ibis, 1901, p. 15; Stark fy 

 Sclater, Fauna S. Africa, Birds, ii. p. 6 (1901). 



Fiscus collaris, Ay res, Ibis, 1876, p. 429 ; Sharpe, Hand-l. iv. p. 284 

 (1893). 



The eggs of the Fiscal Shrike vary in shape from a narrow pointed, 

 to a broad blunt, oval, and they are devoid of gloss. The ground is 

 of a pale greyish-white colour in some specimens, cream-coloured in 

 others, marked, chiefly on the larger half, with blotches, streaks, 

 and spots of pale brown and underlying lavender. As in the eggs 

 of other Shrikes, the markings are often confluent round the larger 

 end and form a broad zone, and less frequently an irregular cap. 

 Examples measure from '9 to 1*12 in length, and from "68 to *73 in 

 breadth. 



3. South Africa. E. L. Layard, Esq. [P.]. 

 2. South Africa. E. L. Layard, Esq. [P.]. 



1 . South Africa (E. L. L. : Tristram Crowley Bequest. 



Coll.). 



6. South Africa. Gould Coll. 



9. Transvaal (T. Ayres: Tristram Crowley Bequest. 



Coll.}. 



4. Natal. T. Ayres, Esq. [C.]. 



2. Deelfontein, 19th December (C. Col. A. T. Sloggett [P.]. 



Grant fy E. Seimund). 



4. Leeuwspruit: O.R.C., 10th Sept. Capt. G. E. H. Barrett- 



Hamilton [P.]. 



