216 THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 



of the rock, it is very liard to get at ; so that in most cases the birds 

 are caught in the throstle-busli. 



The finest old male which I have obtained here has all its 

 upper parts of an extraordinary light and jDure, almost whity-blue 

 grey {^veisslich hlaugrau) colour; the terminal feathers of the 

 rump and upper tail-coverts alone being in some degree still 

 lighter. All the lower parts are pure white without any markings. 

 The markings on the head, wings, and tail are of the purest 

 and deepest black. Audubon, as well as Eichardson and Swain- 

 son {Fauna Bor. Avi.), it is true, say that L. borealis and L. 

 excuhitor are, with exception of the wing-markings, of exactly 

 similar colour ; but it nevertheless appears, from their further de- 

 scription, that even the old males of the former species never 

 completely lose the very faint tinge of the dappled breast-markings 

 of their early dress. Pallas also says of his L. major that the 

 whitish breast is marked with the finest — tenuissiinis — grey undu- 

 lated lines. Beautiful pure-coloured males, like that described 

 above, occur, it is true, only in very isolated instances, jierhaps 

 hardly one amongst fifty : moreover, it is well known that the oldest 

 individuals are the shyest, and the most difficult to obtain. In 

 spite of all this, however, one can hardly suppose that this type 

 of plumage could have i-emained unluiown to the above-named 

 observers if it had occurred within the area investigated by them. 

 Is it perhaps possible that this dress attains to this perfection only 

 in the western portion of the area inhabited by the species, and 

 only in isolated examples of very advanced age ? 



The home of this species will have been ascertained from what 

 has been said above : it has now also advanced as a breeding bird 

 uito Scandinavia. 



50. — Southern Grey Shrike [Sudlicher Wuegee]. 

 LANIUS MERIDIONALIS, Temminck. 



Southern Grey Shrike. Dresser, iii. 387. 



Pie grihhe miridionah. Temminck, Manuel, i. 143, iii. So. 



There is, in my collection, a large Shrike in which the white 

 speculum only extends over the primaries. The bird is markedly 

 smaller than both of the preceding, and all its u^jper parts, including 

 the tail and upper tail-coverts, are of a very dark grey colour. 

 Further, the breast of this specimen is not dappled with grey 

 markings, its colour being a mixture of light cream and pink 

 {hellcm isabell und rosa). From all these characters, I conclude 

 the example to be one of L. meridionalis. The bird was shot in 



