Typically, the eggs are of a broad oval shape, more or less pointed towards one end, of a delicate greenish-white ground, pretty thickly blotched and spotted with various shades of brown and purple markings, which, always most numerous towards the large end, exhibit a strong tendency to form there an ill-defined zone or irregular mottled cap. The variations, however, in shape, size, colour, extent, and intensity of markings are very great; and yet, in the huge series before me, there is not one that an oologist would not at once unhesitatingly set down as a Shrike's. In some the ground-colour is a delicate pale sea-green. In some it is pale stone-colour; in others creamy, and in a few it has almost a pink tinge. The markings, commonly somewhat dull and ill-defined, are occasionally bold and bright; and in colour they vary through every shade of yellowish, reddish, olive, and purplish brown, while subsurface-looking pale purple clouds are intermingled with the darker and more defined markings. In one egg the markings may be almost exclusively confined to a broad, very irregular zone of bold blotches near the large end. In others the whole surface is more or less thickly clotted with blotches and spots, so closely crowded towards the large end as almost wholly to obscure the ground-colour there. As a rule, the markings are irregular blotches of greater or less extent, but occasionally these blotches form the exceptions, and the majority of the markings are mere spots and specks. In some eggs the purple cloudings greatly predominate; in others scarcely a trace of them is observable. Some eggs are comparatively long and narrow, while some are pyriform and blunt at both ends; and yet, notwithstanding all these great differences, there is a strong family likeness between all the eggs. In size they are, I think, somewhat smaller than those of L. excubitor. They vary in length from 0·9 to 1·17 inch, and in width from 0·75 to 0·83 inch; but the average of more than fifty eggs is 1·03 by 0·79 inch.
473. Lanius vittatus. The Bay-backed Shrike.
Lanius hardwickii (Vigors), Jerd. B. Ind. i, p. 405.
Lanius vittatus, Dum., Hume, Rough Draft N. & E. no. 260.
The Bay-backed Shrike breeds throughout the plains of India and in the
Sub-Himalayan Ranges up to an elevation of fully 4000 feet.
The laying-season lasts from April to September, but the great majority of eggs are found during the latter half of June and July; in fact, according to my experience, the great body of the birds do not lay until the rains set in.
The nests are placed indifferently on all kinds of trees (I have notes of finding them on mango, plum, orange, tamarind, toon, &c.), never at any great elevation from the ground, and usually in small trees, be the kind chosen what it may. Sometimes a high hedgerow, such as our great Customs hedge, is chosen, and occasionally a solitary caper or stunted acacia-bush.
The nests (almost invariably fixed in forks of slender boughs) are neat, compactly and solidly built cups, the cavities being deep and rather more than hemispherical, from 2·25 to fully 3·5 inches in diameter, and from 1·5 to 2 inches in depth. The nest-walls vary from 0·5 to 1·25 inch in thickness. The composition of the nest is various. The following are brief descriptions which I have noted from time to time:—
"Compactly woven of grass-stems and a few fine twigs, but with more or less wool, rag, cotton, or feathers incorporated; there is no lining.
"The nest was rather massive, externally composed of wool, rags, cotton, thread, and feathers, and a little grass; the cavity rather neatly lined with fine grass.
"Composed almost entirely of cobweb, with a few soft feathers, wool, string, rags, and a few pieces of very fine twigs compactly woven. The interior was lined with fine straw and fibrous roots."