THE INDIAN CUCKOO-SHRIKE. 229 
The young have most of the upper plumage tipped and margined with 
pale ferruginous J and the lower parts nearly pure white. Subsequently 
the young male changes into the plumage of the adult_, except that the 
breast^ flanks and sides of the abdomen are barred with slaty. The young 
female is more barred below, the bars extending up to the chin. 
Iris hazel-brown to lake ; eyelids grey ; inside of mouth flesh-colour ; 
bill, legs and claws black. 
Length 12 inches, tail 5"8, wing 7, tarsus I'l^ bill from gape 1*5. The 
female is quite as large as the male. 
This bird varies excessively in plumage and in size; the former varies 
according to age and sex, and the latter according to locality. The largest 
birds occur, as a rule, in Burmah and Northern India, and the smallest in 
Ceylon, where some birds have the wing less than 6 inches in length. 
Artamides smnatrensis, closely allied to this species, but smaller in 
size, occurs in the Malay peninsula. It has a very large bill and its 
plumage is much the same as G. macii, but there is no black on the face of 
the male. 
G. reospineti, from China, may be distinguished by the under wing- 
coverts being buff- coloured. 
The Indian Cuckoo -Shrike is spread over the whole of British Burmah. 
Mr. Blyth records it from Arrakan, and I have myself procured it on the 
hills in that Division. It is common over the whole of Pegu and extends, 
according to Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay, into Karennee, where he found it at 
elevations of from 2500 to 4000 feet. Mr. Davison states that it is spread 
over the whole of the Tenasserim Division, becoming rare in the extreme 
south. It is not known how far it extends down the Malay peninsula, but 
Dr. Tiraud states that it is found in Cochin China. 
To the north it is probably distributed over the whole of the Indo- 
Burmese countries. Dr. Anderson got one specimen at Tsagain near 
Mandelay. It has been procured frequently in various parts of the hill- 
ranges of Eastern Bengal and in Assam. To the west it is diffiised over 
the whole Indian peninsula, Ceylon and the Andaman Islands, and its 
range along the Himalayas extends to about the Sutlej river. 
This species frequents the larger trees in thin tree-jungle, especially 
those which are thickly foliaged, and it does not seem to be found much in 
thick forests. It feeds principally on insects which it picks ofi" the leaves, 
but when the peepul-tree is in fruit several birds may generally be observed 
on it. Mr. Davison states that this Cuckoo-Shrike has a fine whistling 
call, but I do not remember to have heard it. 
It probably breeds in Burmah at the commencement of the rains. The 
nest^ which in India is constructed of fine twigs and grass, is placed in the 
fork of a lofty branch, and the eggs are greenish marked with brown 
and pale purple. 
