Page:The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma (Birds Vol 1).djvu/80

48 This species extends over a very wide area and, as might be expected, varies greatly in different portions of its range, though their variations have until now been almost entirely overlooked.

Lanius rufus of Linné, the name which has generally been accepted as applicable to this bird, cannot be used as it is pre-occupied by him in an earlier page of the same work. Curiously enough, however, Latham independently named it Corvus rufus a few years later from a bird obtained on the Malabar coast, so the name rufus will, therefore, still hold good.


 * A. Colours of head and back contrasting strongly.


 * B. Colours of head and back blending with one another.
 * c. Tail 195 to 241 mm.; dark dull plumage.


 * Corvus rufus Latham, Ind. Orn., p. 161 (1790) (Malabar Coast).
 * Dendrocitta rufa. Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 30.