112 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. IX. 



(195) L. erythronotus.— The Rufous-backed Shrike. 

 Oates, No. 476 ; Hume, Nos. 259 and 237 Bis. 

 A very rare bird, but resident wherever it is found. 



(196) L. tephronotus. — The Grey-backed Shrike. 



Oatesj No. 477 ; Hume, No. 258. 



Very common during the cold weather, and a good many birds 

 remain to breed on the hills over 4,000 feet. The nest is a very deep 

 massive cup made of coarse and fine grasses and very neatly lined with 

 the latter. Sometimes the nest, in the same manner as the nests of 

 some other shrikes, is made entirely of fine, strong, flowering grasses, so 

 placed that the feathery ends are all outside ; most of my nests have 

 been taken from stout forks of stumpy trees, about four to six feet from 

 the ground as a rule, but sometimes as high up as 20 feet or even more. 

 On the other hand, I have seen one nest in a scrubby bush, and others 

 again in high straggly ones. 



The eggs are generally four or five in number, but once I took one 

 with five eggs, on the point of hatching, and two young ones which 

 had just emerged from the shell. 



Most of my eggs are of the pale greenish-grey type of egg, so common 

 amongst the eggs of L. nigriceps, but one clutch of two is much brighter 

 coloured, the ground-colour being quite a bright tint of green, and the 

 blotches also of a much clearer colour than usual. I have also seen a 

 few clutches of the pink type. 



Twenty eggs averaged 'W'X'lo". 



(197) L. isabellinus.—- The Pale-brown Shrike. 



Oates, No. 479 ; Hume, No. 262. 

 I have seen but one specimen of this bird, which was obtained in 

 these parts. It is now in the collection of Mr. H. A. Hole, and was 

 shot, I think, in November, 1891. 



(198) L. cristatus.— The Brown Shrike. 

 Oates, No. 481 ; Hume, No. 261. 

 This is the commonest of the shrikes during the cold weather, and 

 some few remain to breed during the early rains. From August to 

 the middle of November I have never met with a bird. 



The nidification appears to be very similar to that of L. vittatus, bat 

 the eggs are more boldly blotched and marked than are those of that 

 bird, The nest is also less deep than most shrikes' nests are, 



