SYKES^S PIED SHEIKE. 
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under tail-coverts pure white ; the remainder of the lower plumage pale 
vinaceous ; cheeks and sides of the neck white_, produced so as to form an 
indistinct white collar round the neck ; lesser wing-coverts black ; median 
coverts black broadly tipped with white ; the outer greater coverts black ; 
the inner ones white on the outer and black on the inner webs ; primary- 
coverts and all the quills black ; the later secondaries broadly edged with 
white; tail blacky all but the central feathers tipped with white, the white 
on the outermost feathers extending over the whole outer web. 
The female is similar to the male, but has the black replaced by sooty 
brown. 
Bill black ; inside of the mouth bluish black ; iris hazel ; eyelids plum- 
beous ; legs plumbeous brown ; claws dark brown. 
Length 5'4 inches, tail 2*4, wing2*5_, tarsus '45^ bill from gape '7. The 
female is of the same size. 
On examining a large series of these birds in the British Museum, I 
arrive at the conclusion that there are two distinct but allied species, 
H.picatus and H. capitalis. Discarding females, I find that all birds from 
Ceylon, Travancore, the Deccan, Sikhim and British Burmah have black 
backs. On the other hand, all birds from Nipal have the heads black and 
the backs brown. A bird from Bhamo collected by Dr. Anderson has a 
black head and a brown back, agreeing with M^Clelland^s type from 
Assam. 
Sykes''s Pied Shrike is found over the whole of Pegu as a constant resi- 
dent, but is by no means a common bird. Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay pro- 
cured it at Tonghoo, in Karennee at 1500 feet, and in the Tsan-Koo hills. 
Mr. Davison found it generally diffused throughout Tenasserim, and Capt. 
Bingham states that it occurs in the Thoungyeen valley. It probably 
occurs in Arrakan, but I cannot discover that it has ever been noticed in 
that Division. 
Out of Burmah it is found in the Himalayas and over the whole of India ; 
but in the Eastern Himalayas it seems to get mixed with the allied species 
H. capitalis, and both occur together in Nipal and Assam. Dr. Anderson^'s 
specimen^ shot near Bhamo in Upper Burmah, is clearly H. capitalis. 
Sykes^s Pied Shrike is generally found in pairs in tolerably thick forest. 
It takes its post on a branch of a tree and darts on passing insects, catch- 
ing them on the wing like a Flycatcher. Mr. Davison states that this bird 
also searches the leaves like a Wood- Shrike. 
A nest found by Mr. Davison at Ootacamund in Madras was a small 
shallow cup made of grass and roots, and covered with cobwebs and lichens. 
It was placed in a branch of a tall tree and contained three eggs, which 
were pale greenish marked with umber-brown. 
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