Gray-backed Shrike

SCI Name:  Lanius tephronotus
Protonym:  Collurio tephronotus Proc.Zool.Soc.London Pt1 no.4 p.43
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Laniidae / Lanius
Taxonomy Code:  gybshr1
Type Locality:  Himalayas, restricted to near Darjeeling by Mayr, 1947, Journ. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc., 47, p. 126.
Author:  Vigors
Publish Year:  1831
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

LANIUS
(Laniidae; Ϯ Great Grey Shrike L. excubitor) L. lanius  butcher  < laniare  to tear to pieces. The shrikes were formerly known as ‘butcher-birds,’ from their habit of storing prey by impaling it on thorns and sharp twigs, giving the resemblance to a butcher’s shambles or slaughterhouse (Mod. L. Lanius (Ray 1713) shrike, butcher-bird); “I reject the compound-name of Butcher-Bird, and retain the old English name of Shrike, from the noise” (Pennant 1773). In nomenclature lanius is used in a variety of combinations for birds with stout, hooked or toothed bills or with the general appearance of a shrike; "43. LANIUS.  Rostrum rectiusculum, dente utrinque versus apicem, basi nudum.  Lingua lacera." (Linnaeus 1758); "Lanius Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., 10th ed., 1, p. 93. Type, by subsequent designation, Lanius excubitor Linnaeus (Swainson, 1824, Zool. Journ., 1 (1825), p. 294)." (Rand in Peters 1960, IX, 342). This is the fourth diagnosed genus in avian taxonomy. Linnaeus's Lanius comprised ten species (L. cristatus, L. Excubitor, L. Collurio, L. Tyrannus, L. Carnifex, L. Schach, L. Senator, L. cærulescens, L. jocosus, L. Garrulus).   
Var. Lanii, Larius.   
Synon. Caudolanius, Cephalophoneus, Collurio, Creurgus, Enneoctonus, Fiscus, Lanioides, Leucometopon, Neolanius, Neofiscus, Otomela, Phoneus.

lanius
L. lanius  butcher  < laniare  to tear to pieces.

tephronota / tephronotum / tephronotus
Gr. τεφρος tephros  ash-coloured  < τεφρα tephra  ashes; -νωτος -nōtos  -backed  < νωτον nōton  back.

SUBSPECIES

Gray-backed Shrike (tephronotus)
SCI Name: Lanius tephronotus tephronotus
tephronota / tephronotum / tephronotus
Gr. τεφρος tephros  ash-coloured  < τεφρα tephra  ashes; -νωτος -nōtos  -backed  < νωτον nōton  back.

Gray-backed Shrike (lahulensis)
SCI Name: Lanius tephronotus lahulensis
lahulensis
Lahul district, Punjab (= Lahaul, Himachal Pradesh), India.