Contrihitions to the Ornithology of India, 8j-c, 175 



Blyth's name was published in 1846, J. A. S. XV., p. 304. 

 Ehrenber^^s name is said to have appeared in Symb. Phys. i 

 fol. e note, but I have not this latter work, and I am therefore 

 unable to decide which name is entitled to priority. 



Mr. Strickland loc. cit., remarks of isabellinus : " This species 

 is pale fulvo-cinereous above, cream-colored below ; rnmp and 

 tail rufous, a broad blackish band from the nostrils to the ear 

 coverts, margined above by a whitish streak. It much resembles 

 L. areMarius, Blyth ; but is of a more cinereous tinge above, 

 and is distinguished from that and all the allied Asiatic species, 

 by possessing a conspicuous white band at the base of the fourth 

 to the ninth primaries. The specimen from Kordofan has an 

 obscure dark transverse band near the tips of the rectrices."'^ Mr. 

 Blyth says, '' A marked variety of L. melanotis, (= L. cristafus, 

 Linn.,) for it can scarcely be admitted as a separate species, 

 was found abundantly by Captain Boys in the country lying 

 between Sindh and Ferozepore. It is distinguished by its pale 

 coloring, a predominant dull, sandy grey, scarcely tinged with 

 rufous, except on the rump and tail ; the lores being whitish in 

 a male and female, presented to the Society by Captain Boys ; 

 but with a slight black spot joining the orbit above. If regard- 

 ed as new, L. arenarius, nobis.'^ 



Now the shrike to which both these descriptions equally apply 

 is common as a winter visitant throughout the greater portion 

 of the plains of Punjab, the whole of Rajpootana, and Sindh. 

 The name arenai-ius is peculiarly appropriate, because wherever 

 within these regions sandy and semi-barren wastes extend, there 

 this shrike is particularly numerous. 



Eastwards, beyond the limits above indicated, this species 

 is only a straggler ; but I have one specimen from Etawah 

 and I have seen it in the Agra district, and I may here 

 notice that within the limits above assigned to this species. 

 L. cristatus never, to the best of my knowledge, occurs. 

 Throughout the extreme west of India, the western Punjab, and 

 Sindh, this species is abundant to a degree, and during our 

 whole trip from Jhelum to Kurrachee, I do not remember 

 having failed to see it on any one single day. I saw it again 

 along the Mekran Coast to Grwader, and procured it in Muscat. 

 Westward we know that it is found in Afghanistan, and Kordo- 

 fan, and Erhenberg describedit, I believe, from Northern Arabia. 

 The color of this species varies a good deal. Lord Walden's 

 figure in the Ibis of isabellinus, 1867, p. 234, is too dark for any 

 specimen that I have seen, and mvjchjtgo^dark for Strickland^s 

 or Blyth^s description ; but stilf freshly moulted birds make an 

 approach to Lord Walden's description j birds as we usually 



