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Show 376 MR. R. SWINHOE ON T H E BIRDS OF CHINA. [May 2, brow white. A male from Amoy agrees with specimens from Amoor and Malacca. Adult female resembles the male. 302. LANIUS LUCIONENSIS, L.; Gmel. Syst. Nat. 1788, p. 299 ; Ibis, 1860, p. 59, 1861, pp. 43, 255, 340, 1863, p. 272, 1866, pp. 135, 295, 394; P.Z.S. 1863, p. 286. 1870, p. 428. Lanius schwaneri, Bp. Consp. Av. i. p. 363. Upper parts light liver-brown ; forehead greyish white, with well-defined white eyebrow. Adult female resembles the male. The commonest species that passes through Amoy. Those collected on passage through Formosa are all immature, as if they had not strength to make the through voyage to the Philippines without rest. L. schwaneri of Borneo seems, from the description, to be based on a partially mature female of this species. Found in summer as far north as Talien Bay. 303. LANIUS INCERTUS, n. sp. Crown, from beak to occiput, cinereous, with no eyebrow; rest of upper parts reddish brown, brighter on the rump. One male specimen procured at A m o y from a party of the last. These four red-tailed Shrikes may be considered geographical races, or representative species, each reserving to itself an area in South-eastern Asia for its winter haunt, and another in North-eastern Asia for its summer haunt. The L. cristatus, that spreads throughout India in winter, seems to seek a family home in Dauria and the country directly north of India, extending to Trans-Baikal; L. lucionensis travels across the sea from its warm winter retreat in the Philippines, and spends its summer in North China, extending its range to Talien Bay ; the southernmost species, L. superciliosus, comes from Malacca, and, passing the summer range of the latter, seeks the high latitudes of Amoorland and northern Japan as more suitable for the nurture of its offspring. As in the case of the Limicolee, those that go furthest north to breed, hurry furthest south to escape the rigours of winter; such is, apparently, the case with L. superciliosus. But this is scarcely a rule with land-birds ; for this Shrike's winter compatriot, __. magnirostris, as I have shown (P. Z. S. 1870, p. 131), is contented to accommodate himself at a halfway station on the journey in Central China. The route taken by L. superciliosus is not down the China coast, or we should meet him straggling down in spring and autumn, as all the migrants do that travel by land. He probably takes the more inland course followed by many birds that summer in North China and the Amoor. How, then, does it occasionally turn up with the large flights of L. lucionensis bound to the Philippines and Borneo? How, further, does it happen that L. cristatus should step out of its way and straggle on a tour to a country widely separate from its regular winter quarters ? I would suggest as an explanation that the routes travelled by the three species must somewhere cross or touch, and that the outliers of the bird-caravans would get attracted to the |