LANIIN.Ii:. 103 



for several examples of the Magpie said to have been procured by 

 Mr. Snow on the Kiirile Islands. Of these one might be ealled 

 Pica caudata leucoptera, if the recognition of such an intermediate 

 form be allowable ; the others are Pica caudata kamtschatkensis, and 

 probably came from Kamtschatka. It is, however, possible that this 

 local race may migrate to the Kurile Islands in autumn. 



LANIIN^. 



Sexes alike or nearly so ; first primary about half the length of the 

 second ; young in first plumage transversely barred on the under- 

 parts, and in some genera on the upper parts also. Rictal bristles 

 well developed. 



If the Laniinae be regarded as consisting of the Shrikes, the 

 Cuckoo- Shrikes, and the Swallow-Shrikes, to the exclusion of the 

 Drongo Shrikes (which may possibly be a natural arrangement), the 

 subfamily will contain about 300 species, of which 7 have been 

 recorded from the Japanese Empire. With the exception of the 

 Arctic Region, they are distributed throughout the Old World. 

 The true Shrikes, being the most arctic, have found their way across 

 Bering Straits and have spread over North America. 



72. LANIUS MAJOR. 

 (PALLAS^S GREY SHRIKE.) 



Zanitis major, Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. i. p. 401 (1826). 



Pallas's Grey Shrike has the crown and back grey, shading into 

 white on the forehead and upper tail-coverts. 



The claim of Pallas''s Grey Shrike to be regarded as a Japanese 

 bird rests upon a single example procured by Captain Blakiston near 

 Hakodadi about the year 1873 (Seebohm, Ibis, 1884, p. 37). 



Pallas^s Grey Shrike breeds in Southern Siberia from the Ural 

 Mountains to Kamtschatka, and is an occasional winter visitor to the 

 British Islands. 



