LANIUS CEISTATUS. 
379 
u ^ p T r , (v,h\rh he styles L. superciUosus, the rufous-backed bird found in Java and Japan), 
be a vanety of the ® but he probably was dealing with immature specin.ens, 
being paler and wantog the f c’OrLred these specimens of Layard’s to A. lueionensis, the species 
which predominate in the island Blyth {loc o ; ^ ^ha^nkw-ics) from Amoor- 
dealt with below. Schalow and Swin oe u latter species. I have examined specimens 
land; and I think it is generally admitted iio'T possession of Mr. SeeboL, and also examples collected at 
of this bird in the Swinhoe colleckon, now n the p 
Krasnoyarsk for this gentleman dunng June last year, a y , b corresponds with one of my 
with my own from Ceylon. An immature bird from Lake Baikal examples in full 
specimens ; and three adults from Krasnoyarsk, in ^^mmer plumag ^ 
winter plumage from Ceylon. They measure in the wing 3 4, o 42, 3 
forehead varies, as it also does in Ceylonese specimens. • „ n.,i. „ mce of L.cria- 
Acwm'ms sMwemKosas which I take to be the species inhabiting Japan, is apparen y no ing^ ; if, md tail and is 
Jwith a more conspicuous white forehead and supercilium. It is slightly larger in the ^ “S 
principally distinguished from the present bird by having the back and hind nec a mos ^pAhohm'^ from 
L head itself, L also the rump, lighter rufous than in oiir species. Three specimens 
Yokohama measure-wings 3-6, 3-65, 3-65, tails 4-2, 4-2, 3-9 inches respectively. The tails too 
obsolete dark rays. I may remai’k here that the figure of L. phwnieurm (‘ Ibis, 18 1 /, p • v.) is in re -ppcigg, 
sentation of this bird, the hind neck being much too rufous, and the frontal band too roa or ® y ' 
L. imbellinus, which is apparently identical with L. arenarius, Blyth (Blanford, Zool. ersia, p. ^p.,i 
distant from the present species, much resembling it in summer plumage, when it becomes ruous 
rump. It may, however, as pointed out by Lord Tweeddale, in his excellent paper on e u o ,..bite 
(‘ Ibis,’ 1 867), be distinguished from L. cristatus by its broader and less graduated tail. The old m 
wing-bar extending from the 4th to the 9th primary. t t j.- e I'n the fio’ure 
The present species was named cristatus by Linnaeus on account of the erroneous e inea ion o a think they 
L Edwards’s plate. Though the coronal feathers in this section of the Shrikes are elongated, I do not think they 
are ever raised by the birds even when under the influence of emotion. 
Distribution . — This Shrike is a very abundant species in Ceylon during the cool season. c ip^i.pj, 
the north in great numbers, the better part of which are immature birds, during the eai y pai • j 1 1 J 
and establishes itself in the islands off the Jaffna peninsula and on the adjacent mam an ’ ‘ 
outnumbering the resident species, L. eaniceps ; thence it spreads over the whole is an , in ^ ‘ 
and west coasts in equal numbers; and ascending the hill-zone it takes up its quaiters in m 
valleys in the coffee-districts, and finds its way up to the Nuwara-Elliya plateau. is x y 
of the forehead; on the hind neck there is generally a rufous shade, and the hue of the 
pervaded with grey; upper tail-coverts rufous-brown passing ^ "^ith fulvous; tail 
primaries with a faint rufous edging, and the secondaries and tert f-afhprrnale 
light rufous-brown, the margins lighter than the rest , bV^wWish supemilium blending into 
the brown of the head; chin, thrLt, and face white, passing into the rufous-buff the 
the centre of the breast and belly are generally paler than the flanks y" the throat plainly indicated ; 
chest is uniform mfons ri^ht across, and the separation between it and the white of the throat pJa y 
under wing pale rufous-buff and its edge white. 
• 1 1 fViaii the THflilc f undcrptirts 
Female has the lore- spot much smaller and, together with the ear-stripe, 
paler. 
k • ht t on the upper tail-coverts ; the head 
Tbitn^. After leaving the nest the young are brownish rufous above, ng es^ 
concolorous with the back, and the forehead no paler than he including the lesser wing-coverts, crossed 
feathers are more buff than further back ; the whole upper sur a , j.gj.^jaig broadly margined with rufous; 
with wavy bars of blackish ; wings rich brown, the cover s, rufous, with a pale tip, which is 
primaries narrowly edged and tipped with a pa er ^ ^ ,g buf . lower part of lores 
preceded by a black edging ; upper part of lores and an undefined stnpe . ^ ^ 
