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same ranges. Hybrids occur between L. leucopterns and L. fiphenocercus, " many 

 intermediate forms " are found between L. excvbitor and major, lietween L. decdbatus 

 ami assiiiiUis, between L. assimilis and pallidirostris, belwceu L. elerjans and 

 dealbatus, between L. elerjans and Hs^tmi^is, between L. dealbatus and pallidirostris, 

 between L. assimilis and lahtora, between L. algeriensis and assimilis, algeriensis 

 and pallidirostris. This is certainly not very reassuring for students who are 

 desirous of naming a Grey Shrike, and in a case like this the question so often put 

 by laymen : " Why do you distinguish between such and such forms?'' is certainly 

 more than ju'^tified. 



I'ut the reason why we do not approve of Mr. Grant's method, is that it is an 

 artificial one. A hundred and fifty years ago, in Linnaeus' time, was the era of 

 artificial .systems. It was then useful, and a great step forwards. When Linnaeus 

 classified the plants by their sexual organs, creating families and orders on account 

 of the numbers of stamina and pistils, it was admired and praised ; but we have 

 gone past that time — we classify plants by the summary of their characters, 

 and we have to arrange the animals by their actual affinities, and not by one 

 or two artificially selected peculiarities. What was admired a hundred and fifty 

 years ago is not naturally looked ui)on with fiivour in our days, since we have 

 considerably advanced in method — and esiiecially within the last twenty-five years. 



If the general appearance, and not only the markings of the wings and tails, had 

 been studied, such conclusions as Mr. Grant's could hardly have been arrived at. 

 Unless we con.sider about one-third of the specimens as hybrids, Lanius excubitor 

 and L. major, both inhabiting Northern Europe and Siberia to the Amur, cannot be 

 regarded as two different species. Mr. Grant says that L. excidiitar and L. major are 

 alike, except that L. niajm- has only one speculum, i.e. the bases of primaries only 

 are white, while L. excubitor has also the basal half of the six outer secondaries white 

 on both webs, and that the white terminal portion of the outer rectrices is wider. 

 Unfortunately both these characters are most variable, and especially that of the 

 greater extent of white in the tail is perfectly useless; and between the specimens 

 with only one speculum and those with two we find all sorts of intermediates. 

 Moreover, both varieties inhabit the same area, and both have been found in one nest ! 

 It is thus perfectly clear that only one form of Grey Shrike inhabits Northern 

 Europe, this being L. exmbitor L. 



A very closely allied form inhabits Northern Asia, but it lias never two specula, 

 the base of the primaries only being white; the under surface, which gets uniform 

 white in adult European birds, is always barred, the rump and upper tail-coverts are 

 more whitish, and the young are dark greyish brown. The name //. major Pallas 

 1827 is not available for this form, as there is already a Lanius majoi- Gmelin 1788, 

 which is a synonym of L. excubitor, a fact which has been overlooked by many authors. 

 The next oldest name for the Siberian Grey Shrike is L. mollis Eversm. 1853. 

 Eussian authors have persistently adhered to the idea that these dark brown Shrikes 

 were adult ones, and Mr. Dresser has endor.sed their opinion. Mr. Grant admitted 

 that the so-called L. mollis were " unquestionably immature birds," and described the 

 ty\>e of L. seebohmi as the adult male; but nevertheless he placed his i. 7?ioWw far 

 away from L. excubitor and L. borenlis, which are its nearest allies, placing such 

 entirely different types as the Red-headed Shrikes and a number of others between 

 these closely allied subspecies. To this we must object, as even the adherents of the 

 old binomial nomenclatorial system, as a rule, try to arrange their species so that the 

 more or less allied forms stand near each other — though of course the trinomial 



