LANIUS COLLARIS, Linnceus. 



Collared Shrike. 



PLATE LII, Male. PLATE LIII, Female & Young. 



Mas. — L. supra nigrescens, tectricibus superioribus albis ; subtus albus, cauda rec- 

 tricibus intermediis quatuor exceptis apicibus albis. 



Fcem. — L. coloribus pallidioribus subtusque obscurior. 



Jun. — L. capite dorsoque ochraceis, nigro-fasciatis, plumis alarum ochraceo-margi- 

 natis ; subtus obscure griseus fasciis nigris. 



Lanius collaris, Gin. Linn. vol. i. p. 299- — Lat/i. Ind. Orn. vol. i. p. 69- 



Collared Shrike, Lath. Gen. Hist. vol. ii. p. 22. — Shaw, Gen. Zool. vol. vii. part ii. p. 295. 



v\ e have been induced to figure this well known species, both as a good 

 type for the genus, and from being enabled, through the exertions of our 

 excellent correspondent Dr Smith, to give representations of both sexes, 

 and of the young previous to the mature plumage. The works of Le 

 Vaillant, where it is already figured and described, are also in the pos- 

 session of very few, and the consultation of them frequently procured 

 with difficulty. According to Le Vaillant, and the notes received from 

 Dr Smith, it is a common bird in Southern Africa, and in the neighbour- 

 hood of the Cape, where our specimens were collected. It feeds on small 

 birds and the larger insects ; in its habits is a daring and active bird, and 

 proverbial among the Hottentots for its cruelty. The sexes differ little in 

 their plumage. In the male, the darker colours are of a deeper and richer 

 tint, and the white is more pure. In the female, the upper parts approach 

 more to a brownish shade, and the breast and belly are clouded with grey- 

 ish-black. In the young, the upper parts are pale ochre-yellow, closely 

 barred with black ; the edges of the greater and lesser coverts, and the tips 

 of the tail, are also ochre-yellow ; the under parts are dull grey, clouded 

 and barred with darker shades : in four or five months the feathers of the 



h 2 



