LANIUS CRISTATUS. 379 



be a variety of the Indian bird (which he styles L. superciliosus, the rufous-backed bird found in Java and Japan), 

 being paler and wanting the rufous crown of that form ; but he probably was dealing with immature specimens, 

 which predominate in the island. Blyth (loc. cit.) referred these specimens of Layard's to L. lucionensis, the species 

 dealt with below. Schalow and Swinhoe unite the Indian bird with Pallas's Shrike (L. phcenicurus) from Ainoor- 

 land; and I think it is generally admitted now to be the same as the latter species. I have examined specimens 

 of this bird in the kSwinhoe collection, now in the possession of Mr. Seebohm, and also examples collected at 

 Krasnoyarsk for this gentleman during June last year, and they are, both as regards young and adult, identical 

 with my own from Ceylon. An immature bird from Lake Baikal (wing 3*3 inches) corresponds with one of my 

 specimens ; and three adults from Krasnoyarsk, in summer plumage, correspond precisely with examples in full 

 winter plumage from Ceylon. They measure in the wing 3-4, 3-42, 3-5 inches : the extent of whitish grey on the 

 forehead varies, as it also does in Ceylonese specimens. 



Lanius superciliosus, which I take to be the species inhabiting Japan, is apparently nothing but a rufous race of L. cris- 

 tatus with a more conspicuous white forehead and supercilium. It is slightly larger in the wing and tail, and is 

 principally distinguished from the present bird by having the back and hind neck almost as rufous as the head, and 

 the head itself, as also the rump, lighter rufous than in our species. Three specimens (Mus. Seebohm) from 

 Yokohama measure — wings 3 - 6, 3-65, 3 - 65, tails 4-2, 4-2, 3 - 9 inches respectively. The tails too are crossed by 

 obsolete dark rays. I may remark here that the figure of L. phosnicurus (' Ibis,' 1867, pi. v.) is in reality a repre- 

 sentation of this bird, the hind neck being much too rufous, and the frontal band too broad for the former species. 



L. isabellinus, which is apparently identical with L. arenarius, Blyth (Blanford, Zool. Persia, p. 140), is not very 

 distant from the present species, much resembling it in summer plumage, when it becomes rufous on the head and 

 rump. It may, however, as pointed out by Lord Tweeddale, in his excellent paper on the Rufous-tailed Shrike 

 (' Ibis,' 1867), be distinguished from L. cristatus by its broader and less graduated tail. The old male has a white 

 wing-bar extending from the 4th to the 9th primary. 



The present species was named cristatus by Linnaeus on account of the erroneous delineation of a crest in the figure 

 on Edwards's plate. Though the coronal feathers in this section of the Shrikes are elongated, I do not think they 

 are ever raised by the birds even when under the influence of emotion. 



Distribution. — This Shrike is a very abundant species in Ceylon during the cool season. It arrives in 

 the north in great numbers, the better part of which are immature birds, during the early part of September, 

 and establishes itself in the islands off the Jaffna peninsula and on the adjacent mainland, considerably 

 outnumbering the resident species, L. caniceps ; thence it spreads over the whole island, inhabiting the east 

 and west coasts in equal numbers ; and ascending the hill-zone it takes up its quarters in many of the open 

 valleys in the coffee-districts, and finds its way up to the Nuwara-Elliya plateau. It is very common on the 



of the forehead ; on the hind neck there is generally a rufous shade, and the hue of the back is always slightly 

 pervaded with grey ; upper tail-coverts rufous-brown, passing into brown on the rump ; wings liver-brow-n, the 

 primaries with a faint rufous edging, and the secondaries and tertials rather broadly edged with fulvous ; tail 

 light rufous-brown, the margins lighter than the rest of the web ; tips of the outer feathers pale. 

 Lores and a broad stripe through the eye and over the ears black, surmounted by a whitish supercilium blending into 

 the brown of the head ; chin, throat, and face white, passing into the rufous-buff of the chest and underparts ; 

 the centre of the breast and belly are generally paler than the flanks ; in some examples, fully aged probably, the 

 chest is uniform rufous right across, and the separation between it and the white of the throat plainly indicated : 

 under wing pale rufous-buff and its edge white. 



Female has the lore- spot much smaller and, together with the ear-stripe, less black than the male; underparts 

 paler. 



Young. After leaving the nest the young are brownish rufous above, brightest on the upper tail-coverts : the head 

 concolorous with the back, and the forehead no paler than the crown, except just at the bill, where the bases of the 

 feathers are more buff than further back ; the whole upper surface, including the lesser wing-coverts, crossed 

 with wavy bars of blackish ; wings rich brown, the coverts, secondaries, and tertials broadly margined with rufous ; 

 primaries narrowly edged and tipped with a paler hue; tail brownish rufous, with a pale tip, which is 

 preceded by a black edging : upper part of lores and an undefined stripe above the eye buff ; lower part of lores 



