LANIUS 243 



rufous, the lores and ear-coverts reddish brown, and the under parts dull 

 white with dark vermiculations. The young resemble the female, but 

 have the upper parts browner and the under parts more boldly and closely 

 vermiculated. 



Hob. Japan, north-east China, and is said to have occurred in 

 Dauria ; winters in Southern China. 



In habits it does not seem to differ from its allies. It 

 breeds in Japan, and places its nest generally in thorny 

 thickets about 4 feet from the ground. The nest is con- 

 structed of twigs and grasses, and lined with finer grass, and 

 the eggs, 4 to 6 in number, are deposited from the end of 

 March to the early part of July, and resemble the blue-green 

 -varieties of the eggs of L. anriculatus. 



364. THICK-BILLED SHRIKE. 

 LANIUS TIGRINUS. 



Lamm tigrinus, Drapiez, Diet. Class. Hist. Nat. xiii. p. 523 (1828) ; 

 Gadow, Cat. B. Br. Mus. viii. p. 289 ; Tacz. F. 0. Sib. 0. p. 494 ; 

 Gates, F. Brit. Ind. Birds, i. p. 470 ; L. magnirostris, Less, in 

 Belanger's Voy. Ind. Orient, p. 251 (1834) ; Walden, Ibis, 1867, 

 p. 220, pi. vi. ; David and Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 97. 



<$ ad. (Malacca). Crown, nape, and hind neck blue-grey ; upper parts 

 and tail bright fox-red broadly barred with black ; quills dark brown ex- 

 ternally margined with fox-red ; wing-coverts like the back ; forehead, 

 lores, and a patch extending over the ear-coverts deep black ; under parts 

 white, the flanks ashy grey slightly barred on the lower part ; bill 

 plumbeous ; legs plumbeous blue ; iris brown, edge of eyelid black. 

 Culmen 0'68, wing 3'4, tail 2'95, tarsus 0'92 inch. The female is duller 

 and browner, and the young bird has the upper parts and head reddish 

 brown boldly barred with black and the under parts dull isabelline barred 

 with dark brown ; no black patch on the side of the head, that part being 

 fulvous, speckled and mottled with brown. 



Hal. E. Siberia and China; wintering in S. Tenasserim, 

 Siam, the Malay peninsula, and Sumatra. 



Frequents bush-covered, thinly-wooded localities and pine 

 woods, and feeds on insects, chiefly coleoptera and orthoptera. 

 It breeds in Eastern Siberia and Northern China ; its nest, 

 which is neatly constructed of plant-stems and grass-bents, 

 lined with finer grasses, is placed in the fork of a bush, from 

 2 to 4 feet above the ground. The eggs, 4 to 5 in number, 

 resemble the reddish varieties of the eggs of L. collnrio, in size 

 averaging about 0*88 by O64. 



R 2 



