the birds of north cachar. 113 



(199) Hemipus picatus. — The Black-backed Pied Shrike. 

 Oates, No. 484 ; Hume, No. 267. 



I have met with two birds, males of course, which were undoubtedly 

 of this species, but the common type is the next. 



(200) H. capitatus.— The Brown-backed Pied Shrike. 

 Oates, No. 485 ; Hume, No. 267 A. 



This is the common form of Pied Shrike met with in these hills. It 

 is to be found everywhere from 2,000 feet upwards at all times and in 

 considerable numbers. They are very sociable birds, and, even in the 

 breeding season, they collect in small flocks when feeding. I have 

 taken four eggs from a nest on one occasion, and on two others have 

 taken three. They have a very sweet little song, though a short 

 and rather jerky one. 



(201) H. obscurus.— The Malay Pied Shrike. 



I met with an undoubted specimen of this species at Laisung in 1888. 

 The bird had been caught on the nest in a hair noose and was brought 

 to me with the eggs and nest. This latter was a beautiful little cup 

 made of shreds of soft grass, covered outwardly with cobwebs. There 

 was no lining of any sort, but so soft was the material used that none 

 was required. It was built in a small fork of a branch at about six 

 feet from the ground, and, as far as I could ascertain from the Naga 

 who brought it to me, in a very exposed position beside a track leading 

 through some heavy forest. 



The eggs, of which there were three, are quite unlike those of either 

 Hemipus capitatus or any other kind of shrike with which I am 

 acquainted, yet, for all that, they have a certain shrike-like character 

 about them. 



In ground-colour two are a pale yellowish-grey, in the third more a 

 yellowish-brown. The markings consist of small, fine, irregular lines 

 and specks of vandyke-brown, and others paler and more cloudy in 

 character, of neutral tint or blue grey ; in the third egg there are also 

 cloudings of pale sienna-brown, and the bluish secondary blotches are 

 confined to the extremity of the larger end, in the other two being 

 fairly equally, though sparsely, distributed throughout. 



In general character these eggs are much like eggs of Schceniparw 

 mandelUL 



They measure '76" X -56" and -68* X '52 y/ . 



