LANIUS 239 



$ ad. (Turkestan). Upper parts rufescent ashy brown ; forehead pale 

 rufous ; lower rump and upper tail-coverts bright rufous ; wings brown 

 with fulvous margins ; a very small white spot at the base of the 

 primaries ; tail dull ^rufous ; lores, supercilium, and a narrow band across 

 the forehead at the base of the bill fulvous white ; a spot in front of the 

 eye and ear-coverts black ; under parts pale fulvous, washed with rosy 

 buff on the flanks ; bill dark brown above, horn-flesh below, but brown at 

 the tip ; legs slaty black ; iris dark brown. Culmen 0'68, wing 3*6, tail 

 3'5, tarsus 0'95 inch. The female has the ear-coverts brown and the loral 

 and superciliary stripe nearly obsolete. The young bird is pale fulvous 

 narrowly barred with blackish above, and with wavy cross bars below. 



Hob. Turkestan and Afghanistan east to the Lob-nor; 

 wintering in N.W. India, Persia, Arabia, Abyssinia, and the 

 Blue Nile. Has once occurred on Heligoland. 



Inhabits bush-covered localities, chiefly sandy and stony 

 desert places, and in general habits does not differ from its 

 allies. Like them, it builds a somewhat bulky nest of grass- 

 bents and twigs lined 'with fine grass and plant-cotton, and 

 generally places it on a bush. The eggs 4 or 5 in number are 

 dull creamy white marked with pale greyish underlying, and 

 dull pale brownish overlying surface-spots and blotches, which 

 are usually collected in a wreath round the larger end, in 

 size averaging about 0'85 by 0*7. 



354. SUBSP. LANIUS SPECULIGER. 



Lanius speculigerus, Tacz. J.f.O. 1874, p. 322 ; id. F. 0. Sib. 0. p. 504 ; 

 Gadow, Cat. B. Br. Mus. viii. p. 279 ; Otomela isabellina var. 

 orientalis, Bogd. Sorokop. Russk. Faun. p. 38 (1881). 



Differs from L. isabelUnus, of which it is but an eastern race in having 

 a large white alar speculum, and in having the whole of the lores deep 

 black ; the quills also are of a darker brown. Culmen 0*7, wing 3'72, tail 

 3'35, tarsus 0'95 inch. 



Hob. Southern Dauria, the Gobi desert, and probably eastern 

 Mongolia. 



Differs so little from L. isabellinus that I am very doubtful if 

 it should be treated as distinct. I have seen a specimen from 

 Turkestan, that agrees pretty closely with others from Dauria, 

 and also a similar example from Central Africa. 



