Part 233

Bantayan (McGregor); Banton (Celestino); Basilan (Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Bohol (Everett, McGregor); Bongao (Everett); Buluan (Mearns); Calamianes (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Caluya (Porter); Catanduanes (Whitehead); Cebu (Murray, Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Cuyo (McGregor); Guimaras (Meyer, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Leyte (Everett, Bartsch); Lubang (McGregor); Luzon (Meyer, Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Whitehead, McGregor, Bartsch); Marinduque (Steere Exp.); Masbate (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Mindanao (Steere, Everett, Koch & Schadenberg, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Celestino); Mindoro (Steere Exp., Schmacker, Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Negros (Meyer, Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Keay); Palawan (Platen, Bourns & Worcester, White); Panay (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Papahag (Bartsch); Polillo (McGregor); Romblon (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Samar (Whitehead); Semirara (Worcester); Sibay (McGregor & Worcester); Sibuyan (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Siquijor (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Celestino); Sulu (Burbidge, Guillemard, Bourns & Worcester, Bartsch); Tablas (Bourns & Worcester); Tawi Tawi (Bourns & Worcester); Ticao (McGregor); Verde (McGregor). Australia, Papuan and Andaman Islands, Malay Archipelago.

Adult (sexes alike).--Upper tail-coverts pure white; remainder of upper parts with wings and tail slate-gray; mantle and back decidedly browner; primaries and rectrices blacker; loral and nasal plumes black; sides of head and neck slate-gray; chin, throat, and fore part of chest blackish slate; remainder of under parts, axillars, and wing-lining pure white. Iris dark; bill light blue, its tip black; legs and nails black. Length, 190 to 200. A male from Siquijor measures: Wing, 136; tail, 67; culmen from base, 21; bill from nostril, 15; tarsus, 16.5. A female from Luzon, wing, 137; tail, 66; culmen from base, 20; bill from nostril, 14; tarsus, 15.

Young.--Four large nestlings taken in Benguet, Luzon, April 19, 1903, resemble the adult in having the breast, abdomen, and crissum white. but the throat is light gray; chin, cheeks, and jaw dark smoky gray; upper parts light seal-brown with some ocherous-colored fringes to the feathers of back and inner wing-coverts; upper tail-coverts white; primaries, secondaries, and rectrices slate-blue with wide edges of gray or white. Iris brown; bill brown, yellowish along cutting edge; legs and feet blackish; nails black.

The nestling down is light buff.

"The swallow shrike is one of the commonest Philippine birds and it seems probable that this species occurs on every island of the group. It hawks after insects during the day, and may sometimes be seen hunting in great flocks just at sundown. Hundreds often roost together on the leaves of coconut trees. Called 'git-git' and 'ala-git-git' by the natives. We found it nesting in the coconut trees as a rule, but a nest in Negros was placed on the broken top of the trunk of a cotton-tree. The nest is composed of small grass-stems, twigs, and similar materials loosely woven together, and is lined with fine grass and with fibers from the bark of the cabo negro palm. The cavity of the nest is broad and shallow, measuring 75 to 100 mm. in width and 25 to 40 mm. in depth. The exterior dimensions vary greatly in different nests. Three or four eggs are deposited. Their ground-color is pale creamy white, usually very heavily marked with spots and blotches of very pale lilac and light chocolate-brown. These markings are usually more numerous at the larger end where, in rare cases, they almost entirely conceal the ground-color, while in others they are replaced by fine dots and small spots. The eggs are remarkably uniform in shape. They vary from 22.8 to 24.8 mm. in length and from 17.2 to 18 mm. in breadth." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)

This attractive species was found breeding in abundance along the Baco River, Mindoro, in April, 1904. The nests were usually placed among the upturned roots of fallen trees which had become stranded in the river.

Family LANIIDÆ.

Bill strong, either compressed or at least as high as broad at nostril, never depressed; upper mandible with a notch, or with a notch and a tooth near tip; nostrils partly hidden by antrorse frontal plumes, the shafts of which are produced; wing moderate in length, flat, and somewhat rounded; first primary one-half of third or less, the second falling between the first and third; rectrices twelve, either long, or else moderate in length; front of tarsus covered with distinct plates; hind toe with claw less than culmen from base.

Subfamilies.

a1. Bill strongly compressed except near base and with a strong tooth and a deep notch near its tip; shafts of chin-feathers not produced ... Laniinæ (p. 592) a2. Bill as high as broad, a slight notch near its tip; shafts of chin-feathers produced ... Pachycephalinæ (p. 599)

Subfamily LANIINÆ.

Bill strongly compressed, hooked, and with a strong tooth and deep notch on each side of upper mandible; inner webs of primaries slightly emarginate; rectrices graduated, usually as long as, or longer than, wing.

Genera.

a1. Mantle barred ... Enneoctonus (p. 592) a2. Mantle not barred.

b1. Forehead black; crown dark slate or black ... Cephalophoneus (p. 593) b2. Forehead gray or white in adults, more or less dull brown, earthy brown, or cinnamon-rufous in young birds, but never black; crown gray or brown ... Otomela (p. 596)

Genus ENNEOCTONUS Boie, 1826.

The only species of Enneoctonus known to occur in the Philippine Islands may be recognized by its barred mantle.

577. ENNEOCTONUS TIGRINUS (Drapiez).

TIGER SHRIKE.

Lanius tigrinus Drapiez, Dict. Class. Hist. Nat. (1828), 13, 523; Gadow, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1883), 8, 289; Blasius, Jour. für Orn. (1890), 139. Enneoctonus tigrinus Sharpe, Hand-List (1903), 4, 286; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 91.

Sulu (Platen). Korea, China, Malay Peninsula, Java, Sumatra, and Borneo.

"Adult male (summer plumage).--Crown of head, hind neck, and upper part of the mantle clear bluish gray; mantle, scapulars, the whole back and the upper tail-coverts reddish brown, each feather with several transverse black bars; lesser wing-coverts like the back, the rest and the secondary quills chestnut-brown with submarginal black lines; primary quills uniform brown, with no white at the base whatever; tail uniform chestnut-brown, with faint subterminal bars and whitish tips to the outer rectrices; a frontal band, the loral and ocular region, and the ear-coverts deep black; all the under parts white, washed with cream-color, especially on the throat, breast, and edge of wings; some of the under wing-coverts with submarginal blackish brown bars. 'Bill bluish black; feet pale leaden, with a fleshy tinge; iris blackish brown.' (Swinhoe.)

"Winter plumage.--The gray of the head and neck is washed with brownish; the frontal band and ear-coverts are brownish black, so that the head has lost its beautiful appearance; cheeks, sides of breast, and flanks with a few subterminal brown vermiculations; bill and feet horny brown. Length, 168; culmen, 19; wing, 81; tail, 76; tarsus, 22.8.

"Adult female.--Very similar to the adult male in winter plumage, but generally with 'a large creamy patch on the lores, and a white half-eyebrow in rear of the eye-line' (Swinhoe); bill bluish black. The measurements are the same as in the male.

"Observation.--Consul Swinhoe observes 'that the sexes are alike, the males being more richly colored.' This, however, holds good only with old females in breeding plumage, since in winter (as proved by all the specimens from Malacca and Borneo) the female closely resembles the young and immature birds, the black frontal band and the gray of the head and neck being replaced by the reddish brown black-barred coloration of the back, while the region above the ear-coverts and above the eye is creamy instead of reddish brown.

"Immature bird.--General color of the whole upper surface of the body reddish brown, which color is more fulvous and grayish on the head and neck, passing into chestnut-brown on the rump and upper tail-coverts; each feather has several very distinct black or dark-brown cross-bars, and is mottled with small creamy or almost white spots; again, the shafts of the feathers being white, the upper parts of the body, especially the mantle and neck, exhibit a rather densely spotted aspect, thus differing from the adult female in summer plumage; no frontal band; the forehead, the region round the eye, and ear-coverts whitish mottled with brownish; throat, middle of abdomen, under tail- and under wing-coverts uniform cream-color; all the rest of the under parts and sides of the neck densely marked with blackish brown vermiculations. Bill pale horny brown; feet more bluish." (Gadow.)

"The tiger shrike is included in this list solely on the authority of Blasius. As it occurs in Borneo its presence in the Sulu group would not be surprising, but we failed to find it." (Bourns and Worcester MS.)

Genus CEPHALOPHONEUS Fitzinger, 1863.