The tiger shrike was first described in 1822 by the Belgian naturalist Pierre Auguste Joseph Drapiez in the Dictionnaire classique d'histoire naturelle.

[2] He placed it in the genus Lanius, a group of about 26 species living in open areas across Eurasia, Africa and North America.

The name of the genus means "butcher" in Latin, referring to the birds' habit of impaling and storing prey.

The adult male's back, rump and shoulders are reddish-brown with blackish bars creating a tiger-like pattern.

Females are duller and browner than the males with a less extensive black mask, less grey on the head, a narrow white stripe above the eye, pale patch between the bill and eye and buff-white flanks with black barring.

[3] It breeds in temperate regions of eastern Asia in deciduous or mixed woodland, forest edges and farmland with scattered trees.

In winter it occurs in forest clearings and edges, cultivated land, mangroves and gardens.

[6][7] It has a wide distribution and a fairly large population and is not considered threatened with BirdLife International classing it as least concern.

[9] It feeds mainly on insects, particularly grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, bugs, butterflies and moths.

[3] The cup-shaped nest is built by both sexes, usually 1.5 to 5 metres above the ground on a branch in a deciduous tree but sometimes low down among bushes.

They are variable in colour with dark markings on a whitish, pinkish or blue-green background.

Strong winds and predation by common magpies result in the loss of many eggs.