PASSERES. 



Earn. LANIID.E. 



Bill strong, deep, much compressed, with the culmen curved from the base to the tip, which 



is very deeply notched. Nostrils placed nearer the margin than the culmen ; gape armed with 



stout bristles. Wings shorter or equal to the tail. Legs and feet short. Tarsus covered with 



stout shields. Outer and middle toes joined at the base ; hind toe large. 



Genus LANIUS. 

 Bill with the characters of the family. Nostrils round, protected by a few well-developed 

 bristles. Wings rather short ; the 2nd quill longer than the secondaries, and the 3rd and 4th 

 the longest. Tail long and graduated, exceeding the closed wings by about their own length. 

 Tarsus slightly longer than the middle toe with its claw. 



LANIUS CEISTATUS. 



(THE BROWN SHRIKE.) 



Lanius cristatus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 134. no. 3 (1766) ; Jerdon, B. of Ind. i. p. 406 (1862) ; 



Walden, Ibis, 1867, p. 212 ; Swinhoe, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 375 ; Holdsworth, P. Z. S. 1872, 



p. 436 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, i. p. 175 (1873) ; Str. Feathers, 1874, p. 198, et 1875, 



p. 91 ; Butler, ibid. p. 464; Armstrong, ibid. 1876, p. 316. 

 Lanius phosnicurus, Pall. It. iii. p. 693. no. 6 (1776) ; Prjevalski, B. of Mongolia, Rowley's 



Orn. Misc. vol. ii. p. 274 (1877). 

 Enneoctonus lucionensis, G. R. Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 291 (1845); Swinhoe, Ibis, 1864, p. 420. 

 Enneoctonus cristatus (Linn.), Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. i. p. 167 (1854). 

 Lanius superciliosus (Lath.), Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiii. p. 130. 

 Lanius lucionensis (L.), Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 304. 

 Otomela cristata, Schalow, Journ. fur Orn. p. 130 (1875). 

 The Crested Red or Russet Butcher-bird, Edwards, Nat. Hist. Birds, pi. 54 ; The, Crested Red 



Shrike, The Woodchat Shrike, Rufous-tailed Shrike, Supercilious Shrike (Latham) ; 



Butcher-bird in India. 

 Batti gccdu, Telugu ; Curcutea, Bengal, (on account of its harsh voice). 



Adult male. Length 7 - 5 to 7"7 inches ; wing 3 - 4 to 3 - 55 ; tail 3-0 to 3-2 ; tarsus 1/0 ; mid toe and claw 0-85 ; bill to 

 gape 0-85. 



Female. Length 7'4 to 7*6 inches ; wing 3 - 4 to 3 - 5. 



Iris dark brown, sometimes hazel-brown ; bill with the upper mandible and tip blackish, gape and base of lower " fleshy;" 

 legs and feet varying from bluish grey to blackish slate ; claws darker than the toes. 



Adult male (Colombo, Sept. 29, 1876). A broad facial streak from the nostril over the lores, and passing beneath the 

 eye to the ear-coverts, Hack. Nasal plumes black ; a more or less narrow frontal streak, widening as it passes 

 over the eye to above the ear-coverts, white ; forehead, crown, and nape brownish rufous, passing on the hind neck, 



3c 



