364 NOTES ON SOME BIRDS COLLECTED ON THE NILGHIRIS 
253.—Dendrophila frontalis, Horsf. The ‘Velvet- 
fronted Nuthatch. 
A common bird all over the region embraced in this paper. 
On the Nilghiris it is particularly abundant. 
254.—Upupa epops, Lin. The Hoopoe., 
Jerdon records this species from the Nilghiris, but it must, I 
think, be of extreme rarity there. I have shot a great number 
of Hoopoes on the Nilghiris and other places in Southern 
India, but I have never been fortunate enough to meet with it. 
255.—Upupa ceylonensis, Reich. The Indian 
Hoopoe. 
' Not an uncommon bird on the Nilghiris and its slopes, any 
in the Wynaad and Mysore where the country is not heavild 
wooded. It is a permanent resident in Southern India, breed- 
ing in holes in trees, old walls, &. The length given by 
Jerdon, 10°5 inches, seems rather small; the shortest leneth I 
have recorded is 11 inches, the longest 11°3 inches. The weight 
varies from 1°5 to nearly 2 ozs. The legs and feet are dirty 
grey ; claws and bill blackish; pale brownish fleshy at base of 
lower mandible. 
257bis.—Lanius caniceps, Bly.. The. Southern Ru- 
fous-backed Shrike. 
_ This Shrike is very common on the Nilghiris and the higher 
portions of their slopes. It becomes less numerous as one de~ 
scends towards the plains, and is very ‘sparingly distributed 
in the Wynaad. I did not meet with it in the portion of 
Mysore I passed through. 
Mr. Parker states that this- Shrike impales its prey on 
thorns. It’ may do so in Ceylon, but it most assuredly 
does not do so in Southern India. I have had ample oppor- 
tunities of observing the bird, and I could hardly have failed 
to have found some evidence of the fact. Nor have Morgan 
and others, who have also observed the habits of the bird 
closely, ever obtained any evidence of sucha habit. I once, 
many years ago, did finda beetle impaled on a thorn, and 
still alive, but I'am pretty sure it was self-impaled. 
The following are the dimensions of several specimens 
measured in the flesh :— 
_ Length, 9°0 to 10°5; expanse, 11°8 to 12:5; tail, 4:5 to 
5-4; wing, 3°6 to 3°85; tarsus, 1:05 to 1-1; bill from gape, 
0:8 to 0-9; weight, 1°4 to 1°62 ozs. 
