Page:A voyage to Abyssinia (Salt).djvu/443

 visible unless the wing be extended. The tail is square at the end: the two outermost feathers on each side are wholly white; the third is deeply edged, and tipped with the same: but the remaining feathers are only tipped with it, so as to give the effect of a cuneform tail of black laid upon a square one of white. Legs lightish ochre; claws brown. The feathers of the head appear a little inclined to a crest; but from the manner in which the skin had been pressed flat for preservation, it may be doubtful whether they were so in reality. The two specimens seen were precisely similar. Dr. Latham appears to have considered this as very nearly allied to, if distinct from, the Pie Griesche silencieux of Le Vaillant, Ois. pl. 74. f. 1. and 2.; but on a strict comparison of the bird, now that it is set up, with that plate and description, I consider this as a distinct species, and have therefore ventured to give it a name. The bill is straightish, with a little curving in at the end, and a very small notch.

No. 2. Lanius Cubla.

This I have no hesitation in considering as the Hottniqua Shrike of Dr. Latham, and Le Cubla of Le Vaillant, pl. 72, with which it agrees in almost every point, except that the black of the head runs down to the beak only in a point on the front, all between the eyes and the nostrils on each side being of a dingy white. This colour also extends higher up the back than these authors appear to represent it; and though the feathers are extremely silky and soft in their texture, the white upon them is by no means clear or dazzling; but, like the same colour upon the edges of the wing coverts, is strongly tinged with pale brown. I concluded it to be a young male, not entirely arrived at his full plumage.

No. 3. Lanius Ferrugineus, Var. This, on the whole, I consider only as a further variety of Dr. Latham's ferruginous bellied Shrike, as they perfectly agree in size, length, and in the general character of the plumage. In the present specimen, however, the head, upper part of the back, and the tail, are black, not brown-black as in the other bird. The scapulars and lower part of the back, with the rump, also appear black, but on the feathers being lifted up, each is found to have a large white spot towards the end, with a deepish fringe of greyish black; these feathers are of a very light, loose texture, and appear to have an additional tuft of a light waving nature, nearly as long as the feather springing from the same shaft on its under side. The chin and throat are white, the rest of the under parts cream colour. On the coverts of the wings is a lengthened spot of white, parallel to the edge; the quills are plain black; the legs are strong, and of a blueish lead colour; claws dark, hind claw crooked and strong. The bill, from the gape to the tip, is not quite an inch long, rather compressed. The tail is a little rounded in shape.