LANIANiE 405 



260. Lanius Hardwickii, Vigors. 



Collurio apud Vigors, P. Z. S., 1831. — Gould, Cent. Him. 

 Birds, pi. 12, f. 1— Blyth, Cat. 876— Horsf., Cat. 215— Sykes, 

 Cat. 53 — Jerdon, Cat 48 — Pachanak, H. — C ho fa-kilo tor a, Bengal 

 — Chinna hellincki, Tel,, i. e. small Shrike; sometimes called 

 Venne-dega, Tel., — Kichang kuravi, Tam. 



The Bay-backed Shrike. 



Descr. — The whole forehead, with eye-stripe, continued to the 

 nape, black ; top of the head white ; back of head, nape, and the 

 lower part of the back, whitish-grey, paler and almost white on the 

 upper tail-coyerts ; middle of the back and scapulars deep chesnut 

 or bay ; wings and tail black, the former with a wing-sjjot on the 

 primaries, and the latter with the two outermost tail-feathers 

 on each side and base, and tips of the others (except the four cen- 

 tral) white ; body beneath, white, tinged with fulvescent on the 

 breast, and the sides of the abdomen dark ferruginous. 



The female sometimes wants the black forehead and stripe over 

 the eyes. 



Bill and legs black ; irides hazel-brown. 



Length 7i to 8 inches ; wing o\ ; tail 4 ; bill at front y'^ ; 

 tarsus |. 



This handsomely-plumaged little Shrike is found over all India, 

 except on the Malabar coast on the west, and Lower Bengal in the 

 North-east. It frequents low thorny jungle, but is also found in 

 groves, gardens, hedge-rows, &c. It has the usual harsh cry of its 

 tribe, but can also utter some very pleasing notes. I never found 

 its nest myself, and it retires from the more open parts of the 

 Deccan to breed. Theobald obtained the nest, which was a 

 compact structure, placed in the fork of a thorny tree, made of 

 fibres, silk, spiders' web, lichens, cocoons, &c., and lined inside with 

 down. This was in May and June. 



The next species have usually been placed under the genus 

 Enneoctonus, Boie ; but Mr. Blyth, whom I follow, considers them 

 as true Lanii, differing from L. collurio, which is the type of 

 Enneoctonus ; and Gray, as noticed previously, puts them into 

 Lanius, as restricted. 



