LAN 
sieath reddifh-white. This variety may eafily be diftin- 
guifhed by the tinge of its head, which is fometimes red, 
and commonly bright ferruginous ; its eyes are whitifli or 
yellowifh ; and its bill and legs are black. They refide 
during l'ummer in the plains, and nettle on the buthy 
trees ; but in winter they thelter themfelves in forefts. 
The male and female are almott exaflly of the fame tize, 
but differ fo much in their colours as to appear of diftinft 
fpecies. They con ft ruff their neft very neatly ; the mofs 
and wool are fo well connefted with fmall pliant roots, 
long fine grafs, and the tender thoots of low ftirubs, that 
the whole feems interwoven. It has generally five or fix 
eggs ; fometimes more ; thefe are of a whitifli ground, 
and either entirely or partly fpGtted with brown or ful¬ 
vous. We ftiall add Vaillant’s remarks upon this variety, 
as it is found very generally in Africa ; and he brought 
fpecimens from the interior parts of the Cape of Good 
Hope, and Adanfon from Senegal. Its manners and ha¬ 
bits are the fame in Africa as in Europe, nor does it vary 
either in fize or colour. Buffon fays they are migratory, 
which Vaillant doubts, as he has found them in Lorraine 
in the winter; and has killed fome in Africa at the very 
time when, according to Buffon, they muft have returned 
to France. If they do remove to a warmer climate, it is 
not probable that they make fo long a journey as to the 
fouth of Africa. But in general thefe birds are fond of 
remaining in the fame place, and never remove, unlefs 
difturbed and perfecuted; for, like all birds of prey, they 
are impatient of difturbance, and delight to preferve ex- 
clufive poffeflion of a certain diftrict, where they may 
hunt, lay their eggs, See. The male is fomewhat larger 
than the female ; and is eafily diftinguifhed, becaufe the 
female has not that dark red on the head and back of the 
neck. This bird, when young, is fo different from what 
it afterwards becomes, that hence Vaillant fays it has come 
to be deferibed as a variety of the collurio, though he af¬ 
firms it to be a diftinft fpecies. 
L. collurio Senegalenfis, the Senegal rutilous flirike. 
Of this variety very little is known. It differs from the 
preceding merely in having the bafe of the quill-feathers 
Spotted with white. 
*. L. collurio melanocephalus, the Senegal black-headed 
flirike: head black; tail long. Vaillant calls this tchagra ; 
and, affuming the woodchat as a diftinft fpecies, he con- 
fiders this as a variety of it. The wings (he obferves) 
are fo fliort, its feathers fo thin and weak, that it is almoft 
excluded from that portion of the atmofphere which birds 
in general inhabit. Confined almoft to the roots of thofe 
trees on the branches of which other birds are conftantly 
perched, it can only fleim the earth with a fliort, flow, and 
painful, flight, like a bird whofe wings have been clip¬ 
ped: the wings, indeed, inftead of being pointed at the 
end, are nearly fquare, and when folded up hardly reach 
the origin of the tail. Hence appears a kind of vicious 
conformation, as if the bird did not belong to this genus; 
which is increafed by the bill being longer and thinner 
towards the point; the bill is alfo weaker than in the 
woodchat; fo that this muft be regarded as the laft link 
in the chain that leads to another divifion. It is very 
evident that this flirike can by no means feek its prey fly¬ 
ing ; on ftirubs and low plants it is therefore continually 
in queft of caterpillars, fpiders, and infefts which cannot 
fly; the gnats and grafshoppers are generally nimble 
enough to efcape. 
The tchagra is nearly as large as the L. excubitor. 
The tail tapers but very little, and is juft rounded at the 
tip. The top of the head is brownifli black, flightly 
tinged with olive. The hind-head, neck, back, and fca- 
pulars, are of a brown tan-colour. The throat is whitifli. 
A white ftripe begins at the corner of the eye, and runs 
along above a black line which is parallel to it down the 
fide of the neck. The front of the neck, and all the un¬ 
der part of the body, are cinereous. The large wing-co¬ 
verts and the outer barbs of the quills are ferruginous 
red; the remainder brownifli with a greenifli tint above; 
VOL.XII. No;**3. 
I U So 213 
all cinereous underneath. The two middle feathers of the 
tail are grey imperceptibly ftreaked with a darker colour; 
the others are blackilh, but all white at the tips. The 
bill and feet are black; the irides brown. This bird feeks 
the thickeft coverts, and would be found with difficulty 
were he not betrayed by his fong, which is a conftant and 
loud repetition of tcha-tcha-tcha-gra, whence the name is 
taken. The female is fomewhat fmaller than the male, 
and her colours in general not fo dark, efpecially at the 
top of the head. She lays five eggs. The tchagra, when 
young, is of a very light grey on the furface of the body, 
and reddifh in thofe parts where the full-grown bird is 
white. The black upon the head of the male does not 
appear till a certain age. They are found about the river 
Gamtos, and thence to Caffraria, but not among the Na- 
maquois; alfo. at Senegal. 
17. Lanius Javanenfis, the red fhrike : this bird is found 
in the ifland of Java, whence it was fent to M. Tem- 
minck, who prefented it to Vaillant. It is about the fize 
of the rutilous fhrike, with which however it muft not 
be confounded, though it has much red in its plumage, 
Buffon has a very erroneous remark, which is, that all tire 
fhrikes which have red in their plumage are varieties of 
the rutilous fhrike. A ferruginous red is the prevailing 
colour in the plumage of this fpecies, which Vaillant calls 
ronjfeau, to diftinguifli it from the L. collurio rufus, de¬ 
feribed before ; though the prefent has a better title to the 
denomination of red than the former, which has forne 
dark red about the head and back of the neck ; whereas, 
in this, the whole upper part of the iread, back of the 
neck, fcapularies, back, croup, and furface of the tail, 
are of a bright red. The forehead is encircled with a 
bandeau of white, which, going over the eye, falls down 
upon the neck, bordering a long black fpot, which runs 
from the corner of the mouth, furrounds the eye, and 
fpreads a little way on the neck. The wing's, where they 
join to the body, are whitifli; the fmaller coverts are red 5 
the greater ones have a border of pale red, as have the 
middle quills, which have a black ground; the large wing- 
quills are black alfo, with a reddifh border. The throat, 
the front of the neck, and all the under parts of the body, 
are white, more or lefs (haded with pale red, which be¬ 
comes ftronger on the fides of the bread anfwering to the 
fetting-on of the wings, and on the fides, legs, and mid¬ 
dle of the belly. The tail is lefs taper than in the pre¬ 
ceding fpecies, though more than in the rutilous flirike : 
as only the two middle tail-quills and the exterior barbs 
of the laterals are red, the interior barbs being light grey 
(haded with red ; this therefore is the colour of the under 
part of the tail. The bill, feet, and claws, are lead-colour. 
Nothing certain is known of the habits, food, nefting, See . 
of this bird. 
18. Lanius brubru, the brubru : the name is taken from 
the note, which is a repetition of the fyllable bru, dwell¬ 
ing upon the r ; indeed his fong much relembles that of 
our greenfinch, when he calls to the female. The colours 
are an agreeable intermixture of black, red, and white, 
diftributed as follows : The male, which is larger than the 
female, has the top of the head and back of the neck 
black ; the reft of the upper furface, as mantle, fcapu- 
lars, rump, and upper wing-coverts, is black and white. 
A white line encircles the forehead near the bill, goes 
above the eye, then grows broader as it runs amidft the 
black on the fides of the neck. There is a large white 
fpot upon each wing, belonging in part to the coverts and 
mid-feathers of the wings, which are moftly, as well as 
the large wing-quills, bordered with white. The four 
middle feathers of the tail are black ; the reft on each 
fide have progreffively a little more white, fo that the outer 
one on each fide is entirely edged with that colour ; they 
are all tipped with white. The tail is rounded at the end 
by the effetft of the lateral feathers. The wings, when 
folded up, extend above half the length of the tail. The 
throat, front of the breaft, and under tail-coverts, are 
white; a ferruginous red ftripe runs along the fides, form- 
3 I “ ing 
