LANIUS KADDII. 



(RADDE'S SHRIKE.) 



Lanius raddei, Dresser, P. Z. S. 1888, p. 291. 



Otomela bogdanowi, Schalow, J. f. Orn. 1893, p. 116 (nee Bianchi). 



Lanius bogdanowi, Dresser, Ibis, 1893, p. 378 (nee Bianchi). 



Figura unica. 

 Dresser, Ibis, 1889, pi. v. 



J 1 ad. supra canus : dorso pallide fusco-cinereo lavato : uropygii lateribus albis : fronte et superciliis albis : 

 linea anguste frontali et loris cum regione parotica nigris : alis nigricantibus, tectricibus alarum cum 

 secundariis fuscis cinereo marginatis, secundariis majoribus albo anguste terrain atis : speculo alari 

 angustiore : rectricibus nigris, duabus extimis albis, linea centrali nigra versus apicem magis extensa 

 notatis, reliquis nigro notatis : mento, gutture et corpore subtus albis : hypochondriis pallide cervino 

 lavatis. 



Adult Male (Kulkulais, September 5th) . General colour above bluish grey, much lighter and clearer on 

 the crown and forehead, the latter and a line over the eye white; a narrow frontal line, the lores, and 

 a band passing through the eye and covering the ear-coverts black ; lower part of the mantle brownish 

 buff; wings dull blackish, the secondaries narrowly margined with dull white ; alar patch very small; 

 median tail-feathers black, the outermost rectrix on each side white, but with a black line along the 

 shaft which broadens considerably towards the tip, the next two with much more black towards the 

 tip ; chin, throat, and underparts generally, with the under wing-coverts, pure white ; flanks washed 

 with pale warm buff: bill and legs black. Total length about 6"75 inches, culmen 0'6, wing 3'55, 

 tail 3-2, tarsus 0'9. 



This Shrike is as yet so little known that, so far as I can ascertain, there are at present but two 

 specimens in any collection — the type, which is in my own collection, and one example in the 

 collection of the late Dr. Severtzoff, which is now at Moscow. The former was obtained by 

 Dr. G. Radde, at Kulkulais, in Transcaspia, and the latter, I think, in Turkestan, but I have not 

 yet received particulars as to where Dr. Severtzoff obtained it. 



When I described Lanius raddii I had not seen Dr. Bianchi's description of L. bogdanowi, 

 and, indeed, it does not altogether agree with my bird ; but Mr. Pleske when in England 

 examined my specimen, and assured me that it was undoubtedly conspecific with that bird, and 

 I therefore, as he was so certain about it, decided to adopt that name instead of L. raddii. Last 

 autumn Prof. Menzbier, of Moscow, wrote to me saying that he had received a large series of 

 Shrikes from Central Asia, some of which approached both Lanius bogdanowi and L. raddii, and 

 asked me to lend my type for examination and comparison, which I at once did, and at the same 

 time asked him to compare it with the type of L. bogdanowi, and to let me know the result as 

 early as possible, as I had to send my article on the present species to the printers not later 



