Major C.T.  Bingham writes:—­“Breeds both at Allahabad and at Delhi in May, June, and July.  At the former place I never got the eggs, but have seen some that were taken; but at Delhi I found numbers of their nests in June and July, and one in May.  It makes a much softer nest than either of the two above-mentioned Shrikes.  One nest I took on the 15th June was composed wholly of tow, but generally they have an outer foundation of twigs, and are lined with tow, bits of cotton, human hair, or rags.  Some eggs are a yellow-white, with very faint marks, others are miniatures of the eggs of L. lahtora.

“Five is the greatest number I have found in one nest.”

Mr. W. Theobald makes the following note of this bird’s breeding in the neighbourhood of Pind Dadan Khan and Katas in the Salt Range:—­

“Lays from the commencement of May to the middle of June.  Eggs three or four in number; shape varies from ovato-pyriform to blunt ovato-pyriform, and measuring from 0.73 to 0.87 inch in length and from 0.55 to 0.65[A] inch in breadth.  Colour, same as L. erythronotus, also creamy or yellowish white, spotted with darker.  Nest compact, in forks of thorny trees; outside fibrous stalks, bound with silk or spider-web, and covered with lichens or cocoons, imitating a weathered structure; inside lined with fine grass and vegetable down.”

[Footnote A:  I think that there must be some error in these dimensions, for mine are taken from forty-five specimens, the largest and smallest, out of some hundreds of eggs.—­A.O.H.]

Colonel C.H.T.  Marshall, writing from Murree, says:—­“These little Shrikes breed in the hills, as well as the plains, up to 5000 feet high.”

Colonel Butler has the following notes on the breeding of this Shrike in Sind:—­

“Kurrachi, 7th May, 1877.—­I found two nests on this date, one in the fork of a babool tree, the other on the stump of a broken-off branch of a tree between the stump and the trunk of the tree.  The former contained four incubated eggs, exact miniatures of many eggs I have of L. erythronotus, the latter two small chicks.—­May 12th, same locality, a nest containing two fresh eggs, and another containing two fully fledged young ones.—­June 20th, same locality, one nest containing three fresh eggs, another containing four young birds.  Eggs most typical are those which have a well-marked zone near the centre.”

“Hydrabad, Sind, 19th June, 1878.—­A nest on the outer bough of a babool tree about ten feet from the ground, containing three fresh eggs.”

And he further notes:—­“The Bay-backed Shrike breeds in the neighbourhood of Deesa at the end of the hot weather.  The nest is a very firm and compactly built cup, usually placed in the fork of some low thorny tree at heights varying from seven to ten feet from the ground.

“June 15th, 1875.  A nest containing 3 fresh eggs. 
July 1st, 1876.     "        "     4   "     "
July 15th, "        "        "     5 incubated eggs. 
July 29th, "        "        "     4 young birds.

“These birds always retire from the more open parts of the country to low thorny tree-jungle to breed.”