Emin's Shrike

Emin's shrike is similar in plumage to the red-backed shrike, but it is smaller and darker. It has a black mask from the base of the bill through the eye to the ear coverts, which separates the grey crown and nape from the white throat. The upperparts are brown without the grey rump shown by the red-backed shrike. The breast, belly and undertail coverts are dark buff rather than the red-backed shrike's pinkish underparts. The black tail has white sides and a white tip, and there is an obvious patch of white on the primaries. This is not a highly sexually dimorphic species; the females are duller versions of the males, with a browner back, and the grey head having a brownish tinge. The juveniles are brownish barred, with blackish on the upper parts, and blackish barred pale tawny underparts. This is the smallest species in the genus Lanius, with a length of 14 or 15 cm (5.5 or 5.9 in).

Emin's shrike is found in western and north central Africa, and has a scattered distribution which lies in a broken belt to the north of the equator. It can be found in Mali in the Niger inland delta and on the Séno Plain and the Ivory Coast, mostly in Comoé National Park east to South Sudan and northern Uganda. Breeding has been confirmed only in Nigeria, Ghana and the Democratic Republic of Congo, but this species has been recorded from the Central African Republic and Benin, as well as the aforementioned states. There are no records from Togo or Burkina Faso, but the species may have been overlooked in these countries. This is a species of savanna, gallery forest, open woodland and forest clearings, including old carable fields and abandoned settlements.

Emin's shrike belongs to the genus Lanius. This name is derived from the Latin word for "butcher", and some shrikes are known colloquially as "butcherbirds" for their habit of storing prey by impaling it on thorns or spikes. The specific name, gubernator, means "governor", and this, and its common name, refer to Emin Pasha, the German-born Ottoman, naturalist and governor of the Egyptian province of Equatoria on the upper Nile. Pasha collected the collected four types used by Hartlaub to write his description.