LANIID^E. 



149 



THE LESSER GREY SHRIKE. 

 Lanius minor, J. F. Gmelin. 



The Lesser Grey Shrike is an annual summer-visitor to' the 

 southern and central portions of Europe, and, on migration, it 

 occasionally wanders to England. Early in November 185 1, a 

 female was killed in the Scilly Islands; in the spring of 1869 an 

 adult was received by the Rev. Murray A. Mathew from Great 

 Yarmouth, where another was taken in May 1875 ; on September 

 23rd 1876, a bird of the year, identified by the late Mr. Gatcombe, 

 was taken alive near Plymouth ; the Rev. M. A. Mathew has 

 recorded (Zool. 1894, p. 345) the discovery of an adult, which had 

 been shot at Heron Court in September 1842 ; and Mr. F. W. 

 Frohawk states (Field, p. 839) that he identified one with binoculars 

 in Mid-Kent on May 15th 1897. 



It is doubtful if the Lesser Grey Shrike has occurred in the south 

 of Sweden or in Denmark ; while it is distinctly rare on passage 

 in Heligoland, and only less so in Holland, Belgium and the 

 north of France. Eastward, it is not uncommon along the southern 

 shores of the Baltic, and has even wandered to Finland ; while in 

 the south it is generally distributed over Europe as far west as the 



