244 LANIUS 



365. RADDE'S GREY SHRIKE. 

 LANIUS RADDII. 



Lanius raddii, Dresser, P.Z.S. 1888, p. 291, pi. v. ; id. Birds of E. ix. 

 p. 171, pi. 669. 



< ad. (Transcaspia). Upper parts blue- or french-grey, paler on the 

 crown and forehead, the lower part of the mantle brownish buff; wings dull 

 blackish, the secondaries narrowly margined with dull white ; white alar 

 patch very small ; central tail-feathers black, the outermost white with a 

 black median line broader towards the tip, the rest with more black 

 towards the tip ; forehead and a line over the eye white ; a narrow frontal 

 line, lores, and a band passing through the eye and including the ear- 

 coverts black ; chin, throat, and under parts white, the flanks washed with 

 pale warm buff ; bill and legs black ; iris brown. Culmen 0*6, wing 3*55, 

 tail 3'2, tarsus 0'9 inch. 



Hob. Transcaspia and Turkestan.' 



A very little kno\vn species, and nothing is on record respecting 

 its habits or nidincation. 



366. SUBSP. LANIUS DICHROURUS. 



Lanius diclirourus, Menzbier, Ibis, 1894, p. 382. 



Ad. Differs from L. raddii in having the upper parts dark smoke-grey 

 tinged with brownish on the back, the tail with more black, the outer 

 feather with the terminal third black margined with white, the throat only 

 white ; rest of the under parts pale buff-pink, the flanks vinaceous cin- 

 namon, and the under wing-coverts brown, the lesser ones margined with 

 white ; bill horn-brown, the base of the mandible paler ; legs dark brown ; 

 iris brown. Culmen, 0'75, wing 3'75, tail 3*4, tarsus 0'9 inch. 



Hob. Kenderlik river near the Lake Nov-Zaissan. 



Nothing is on record respecting the habits of this Shrike. 

 The present group of Shrikes, having an extensive and 

 uninterrupted range is, like other similar groups, subject to 

 considerable local variation, these varieties or forms inter- 

 grading into each other in localities where they meet. Several 

 of these forms have been described by Russian authors, but 

 I have been unable to examine a series or even individual 

 specimens of most of them, and am therefore unable to give an 

 opinion on them, but may say that Lanius eleagni Suschkin is 

 stated to somewhat resemble L. collurio, as well as the Red- 

 tailed Shrikes, and that L. infuscatus Suschkin differs but little 

 from it. L. bogdanovi is said to differ from L. raddii in being 

 much smaller, with a shorter tail, and the upper parts, 



