286 MR. R. BWINHOE ON THE BIRDS OF CHINA. [JunC 23, 



Both carry the pecuHar long hristles that, springing from the root 

 of the bill, pass over the crown down to the back and shoulders. 



123. Lanius schach (Gm.). 



L. chinensis, Gray. 



This Shrike throws off its young plumage at the first moult, when 

 the male and female are similar in dress. The young is light chest- 

 nut-brown on the upper parts, mottled and barred with black ; 

 throat white, rest of lower parts pale chestnut, mottled on the breast; 

 wings deep brown, the coverts being tipped and the tertiaries edged 

 and tipped with chestnut-red. The black eye-mark is strongly 

 marked, but lighter than in the adult. Of the variabiUty of this 

 species, and the tendency it frequently shows towards allied forms, I 

 have before remarked in my paper on the birds of Formosa, in The 

 Ibis, 1863, p. 270. The small race from India and Borneo is di- 

 stinguished as L. erythronotus, Vigors ; and L. nix/riceps and L. 

 tephronotus, both from India, are forms closely akin to ours. 



124. Lanius phcenicurus, Pall. 



L. lucionensis, L. 

 L. superciliosus, L. 

 L. cristatus, L. 



The first of these is found in China as a summer visitant, extend- 

 ing to Talien (North China) and perhaps to the Amoor. In autumn 

 large numbers pass southwards down the coast, some making for the 

 Philippines, touching on their way at south-west Formosa. How 

 far south of China these migrants go we do not know ; but at Ma- 

 lacca we have another race, distinguished by its bright rufous instead 

 of ashy head and back. In Java, the Andamans, and Ceylon, our 

 bird again makes its appearance, but whether as a resident or a 

 migrant history telleth not. In Hindostau the L. cristatus occurs 

 in winter chiefly, being of a browner plumage, with indistinct eye- 

 mark ; this will probably be the typical L. phcenicurus of Pallas, 

 finding its summer resort in Siberia. Now, can we suppose that the 

 large numbers of these small Butchers that leave China find their 

 way down to the southern islands, passing over the habitat of an 

 allied race, and after spending a few months speed back the same 

 long distance to their summer quarters ? Pondering over the laws of 

 migration, I was much puzzled in procuring at Amoy a specimen 

 of L. superciliosus (the Malacca race), and shortly after a pair of 

 the Indian form. But when I collected a large series I found the 

 gradation from one to the other most complete. Is it possible that 

 in their migrations they occasionally induce others of allied forms to 

 return with them and interbreed? I cannot help thinking it far 

 more probable that the browner Siberian bird is the typical race, 

 from which the others have sprung, and that the rufous colouring of 

 the ashy L. lucionensis, making it in some cases almost identical 

 with Indian birds, shows merely a natural tendency to return to the 

 typical plumage. The characters of both these forms strongly com- 



