( 400 ) 



Of L. inei'idiondlis, which I call L. excali/'lor meridionalis. Mr. (iraiit gives as 

 the " habitat " : " 8outh of France, Spain and Portugal," and he adds : " Records of 

 this species occurring in Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia, etc., are apparently erroneous, 

 though it has undoubtedly been obtained in Corfu and the Ionian Islands." 

 Unfortunately what Mr. (irant says about the occurrence outside of the regular 

 breeding-range {i.e., as correctly stated, "South of France, Spain and Portugal") is 

 not right; in fact, almost the opposite is true. L. e. tnerklionalis extends along 

 the Mediterranean coast at least as far as Nice, and has occurred, though irregularly 

 and more or less accidentally, in Liguria, Toscana, Umbria, and even as far as Rome, 

 specimens being jireserved in Italian museums. On the other hand, the occurrence 

 on the Ionian Islands is erroneous (cf. Reiser, Fauna Balcanica, iii. p. 569), and there- 

 is no reason to believe that Lord Lilford's statement of its occurrence on Corfu is 

 correct, since he evidently only " observed " it, no specimen from Corfu being preserved 

 in his or any other collection. In Sardinia a young L. minor has been mistaken for 

 tneridionalis. The same might have happened elsewhere. Nordmann's statement 

 of its occurrence in S. Russia is sure to be erroneous ; Kolombatovics' note of its 

 presence near Spalato in Dalmatia is not verified ; Giitke records it from Heligoland, 

 but no specimen of Tneridionalls exists in his collection : therefore it is probably 

 erroneous, or, let us say, not verified, like several others of Giitke's records. Under 

 Laniua mibicus Mr. Grant says, '• North- East Africa and South- Western Asia, ranging 

 west to Senegal." This is a most incautious statement, as the only reason for it 

 appears to be one skin in the British Museum which is labelled " Senegal." This 

 skin, however, was pm'chased from the "Maison Verreaux" in Paris, which is notorious 

 for its inaccuracy regarding localities, as I ha\e repeatedly had occasion to prove. 

 Altogether the practice of stating the range of a bird from single occurrences is a 

 very crude one, because we want to know where a species breeds and where it 

 migrates. So in the case of L. nubicua, which breeds in Asia Minor and Palestine 

 to S.W. Persia, but appears to be only a winter visitor in N.E. Africa, and never 

 occurs in Senegambia or on the Senegal. It would also have been interesting to 

 state that L. nubicus used to breed, until 1864 at least, near Athens (cf. Reiser, 

 Ornis Balcanica, iii. p. jJ60). 



!Mr. Grant's No. 21 is called Laniics povuranus. The earliest name is L. 

 senator L. 1758 ; but Mr. Grant, belonging to the small band of British ornithologists 

 who do not follow the international code of nomenclature, and adhere to the 

 " Stricklandian Code," does not adopt names prior to 1706, and therefore refused 

 it. It has likewise been refused by Dr. Schiebel, in his interesting treatise " Die 

 Phylogenese der Lanius-Arten " in Joiirn. f. Oru. 1906. p. 190. Dr. Schiebel 

 based his opinion on the consideration that Linnaeus' diagnosis was not clear. 

 Every ornithologist, however, who has any exjjerience in interpreting Linnaean 

 names must know that we must judge Linnaean names by the source he took 

 them from. Now, as it is perfectly clear that Linnaeus did not know the bird, 

 but merely took his attempt at a diagnosis from Albin, whom he faithfully quoted, or 

 made it up from Albin's figure, we must look to Albin for a solution, if we are 

 uncertain; and Albin, though his tigure is bad, undoubtedly figures the Ked-headed 

 Shrike. Albin does not give a locality for his bird, merely stating that he had it out 

 of the collection of Sir Thomas Lowther,* but adds that Willonghby had described 

 a specimen from the Rhine. If is evidently merely a slip that Linnaeus said " In 



* It is a thousand pities that tliis rich collection has not been preserved— at least I never lieard of it. 

 It contained many of the birds figured by Albin, among them the Comaiibis eremita from Switzerland. 



