Lanius excubitor and Laiiius major. 31 



guidance ; and lience that L. major does not admit of being 

 distinguished by reliable characters from L. excubitor. When 

 prosecuting my investigations, I had before me, as seen in 

 the woodcuts furnished (p. 275) in the said journal, indivi- 

 duals from the southern districts of Norway, comprising alike 

 the most typical specimens of L. major, in which the secon- 

 daries exhibit no traces at all of any white bases, and others 

 in whicli the first indications of such a basal mark bad made 

 their appearance; furthermore, individuals with the said 

 indications expanded to a distinct spot of about 15 mm. in 

 breadth. Such individuals we might, with perfect indiffe- 

 rence, term L. major or L. excubitor. 



From these transition-individuals we have an unbroken 

 series till the inner spot on the secondaries becomes the 

 white mark in the "typical L. excubitor." Similar transition- 

 series, or individuals, have been shown to occur by Mr. See- 

 bohra (Ibis, 1880, p. 185), by Dr. Finsch (Verb. k.-k. zool.- 

 bot. Ges. Wien, 1879, p. 188), and by various other orni- 

 thologists. 



Dr. Homeyer, in particular, has dwelt most emphatically 

 on this subject (Journ. f. Orn. 1880, p. 178), and few, 

 if any, authors have hitherto had so extensive a material 

 on which to base their researches, since that ornithologist 

 was enabled to submit at one time as many as sixty-three 

 specimens of L. major, excubitor, and homeyeri to minute 

 comparison. But even had the whole intervening series been 

 wanting, it would still be impossible to retain the single- 

 marked form as a separate species. 



As I have previously stated (Arch. f. Math, og Naturv. 1879, 

 p. 279), Mr. Meves, of Stockholm, has, in his collection, two 

 young birds, both shot Aug. 12th at Quickjock, in Lapmark, 

 which he has reason to believe were of the same brood. One 

 of these is a double-spotted male {L. excubitor), the other a 

 single-spotted female (L. major). Now, that these birds 

 were really hatched together, it would seem, from the compa- 

 ratively advanced season of the year, difficult to decide ; they 

 had, most likely, already moulted their nest-plumage, and 

 may have belonged to different broods. 



