399 
LANIUS COLLURIO. 
(RED-BACKED SHRIKE.) 
Lanius collurio, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 136 (1766). 
Lanius spinitorques, Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl. ii. p. 1335 (1805). 
Lanius dumetorum, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 234 (1831). 
Enneoctonus collurio, Boie, Isis, 1826, p. 973. 
Red-backed Shrike, Butcherbird, English; Pie-griéche écorcheur, French; Der rothriickige 
Wirger, German; Brunryggad Tornskatan, Swedish; Pienempi Lepinkdinen, Finnish ; 
Sorokopood Joolan, Russian; Graauwe Klaauwier, Dutch; Averla piccola, Italian; 
Tistazza nicca, Sicilian. 
¢ pileo claré cano, anticé albido, fronte loris et regione paroticd nigerrimis: interscapulio, scapularibus et 
tectricibus alarum superioribus rufis: dorso imo cinereo: remigibus brunnescenti-nigris, secundariis 
externé rufo marginatis : rectricibus nigricantibus, versus basin albis, externis albo marginatis et apicatis, 
duabus medianis omnino nigris: subtus pulchré rosaceus: mento, abdomine imo cum tectricibus sub- 
alaribus et subcaudalibus puré albis. 
@ supra sordidé rufescenti-brunnea, collo postico uropygioque grisescentibus, hdc obscuriore, lineis parvulis 
nigris transfasciato: fronte, loris et superciliis albis: subtus omnino albescens, genis, pectore superiore 
et hypochondriis nigris transversé vermiculatis: cauda rufescenti-brunnea, rectricibus externis angusté 
albo marginatis. 
Jun. similis femine adultz, sed pallidior, et supra fasciculis ochraceis et nigris transfasciata. 
Male. Head, back and sides of neck clear blue-grey, a little whiter on the fore part; middle of the back and 
scapulars dull brick-red; lower part of the back grey; wing-coverts black, very broadly edged with 
rufous; quills blackish, underneath white at the base, primaries edged with a very narrow line of 
fulvous, secondaries with red like the back; tail blackish, all but the two middle feathers white at the 
base, this colour predominating on the external feathers, the outer one being edged and tipped with 
white ; a narrow frontal line, feathers between the bill and the eye, extending underneath the latter, 
and the ear-coverts jet-black; chin, lower part of abdomen, and under wing- and tail-coverts white ; 
rest of the under surface of the body beautiful delicate rose-colour; bill and legs black; eyes brown. 
Total length 7-2 inches, culmen 0:6, wing 3°7, tail 3-2, tarsus 0°95. 
Female. Entirely different from the male, brownish grey above, clearer grey on the hinder part of the neck 
and lower portion of the back ; tail brownish red above, greyish beneath, tipped with whitish ; underneath 
white, without any suffusion of pink, the feathers of the sides of the neck, upper part of the breast, and 
flanks transversely marked with spade-shaped vermiculation of brown. ‘Total length 6:9 inches, culmen. 
0°6, wing 3°7, tail 3:0, tarsus 0°95. 
The very adult female, however, sometimes assumes a plumage nearly approaching that of the male; and 
Mr. Blyth (Ibis, 1864, p. 412) states that he has found breeding females nearly similar in plumage to 
the adult male. This fact has also been remarked by various German naturalists. 
2¢ 
