312 LANIID2E.

was placed in a fork of a thorny jujube or ber tree (Zizyphus
jujula), near the centre of the tree, and some 15 feet from the
ground. It contained four fresh eggs, feebly coloured miniatures
of the eggs of L. lahtora, which latter so closely resemble those of
L. exciibitor that if you mixed the eggs, you could never, I think,
certainly separate them again. The eggs exhibit the zone so cha-
racteristic of those of all Shrikes. They have a dull pale ground,
not white, and yet it is difficult to say what colour it is that tinges
it; in these four eggs it is a yellowish stone-colour, but in others
it is greenish, and in some grey ; near the middle, towards the
large end, there is a broad and conspicuous, but broken and irre-
gular zone of feeble, more or less confluent spots and small blotches
of pale yellowish brown and very pale washed-out purple. There
are a few faint specks and spots of the same colour here and there
about the rest of the egg. In some eggs previously obtained the
zone is quite in the middle, and in others close round the large
end. In some the colours of the markings are clear and bright, in
others they are as faint and feeble as one of our modern Man-
chester warranted-fast-coloured muslins, after its third visit to a
native washerman. In size, too, the eggs vary a good deal.

"The little Shrike had a great mind to fight for hispenates, and
twice made a vehement demonstration of attack; but his heart
failed him, and he retreated to a neighbouring mango branch,
whence a few minutes after we saw him making short dashes
after his insect prey, apparently oblivious of the domestic calamity
that had so recently befallen him.'7

Mr. E. E. Blewitt, then at Gurhi Hursroo, near Delhi, sent me
some years ago the following interesting note :—

" Breeds from March to at least the middle of August. It
builds its nest in low trees and high hedgerows, preferring the
former.

" In shape the nest is circular, with a diameter, outside, of from
51 to 61 inches, and from 1*5 to 2 in thickness.

"Per the exterior framework thorny twigs, old rags, hemp,
thread-pieces, and coarse grass are more or less used, and com-
pactly worked together. The egg-cavity is deep and cup-shaped,
lined with fine grass and khus; pieces of rag or cotton are some-
times worked up with the former.

" Five to six is the regular number of eggs. In colour they are
a light greenish white, with blotches and spots generally of a light,
but sometimes of a darker, reddish brown. The spots and blotches
vary much in size, and they are mostly confined to the broad end
of the eggs.

" I had frequently noticed on a tree in the garden an old Shrike's
nest. It was in the beginning of May that a male bird suddenly
made his appearance and established himself in the garden, and
morning and evening without fail did he sit and alternately chatter
and warble away for hours. His perfect imitation of the notes of
other birds was remarkable.

"In the beginning of June his singing suddenly ceased, the