Lanivis excubitor and Lanius major. 33 



cubitor, the female a single-spotted L. major, without a trace 

 of any inner spot on the secondaries. On June 30th, when, 

 in company with Mr, Landmark, Director of the Salmon 

 Fisheries, I visited Finmark, I found near the Tana-Elv a 

 Shrike's nest containing six young. It was placed in a birch 

 tree on a sterile terrace, thinly grown and clad with lichens, 

 about fourteen English miles from the mouth of the river. The 

 nest was easily seen, and constructed of dry twigs together with 

 straw, thickly lined with white feathers of the Willow-Grouse, 

 as also a little wool and the cotton of Salix lanata. The inner 

 diameter of the nest measured 90 mm. The young were 

 of about the size of Sparrows and remarkably naked, only 

 a few sprouting feathers being visible, but not a trace of 

 down. 



The parent birds displayed great anxiety and were easily 

 shot. The male proved to be a normal L. excubitor, with ex- 

 ceedingly pure colours, and had not a trace of vermiculations 

 on the white abdomen ; the female was an equally typical 

 specimen of L. major, and exhibited, on the whole, somewhat 

 darker colours than the male ; thus, the rump was but very 

 little lighter than the back, whereas in the male it was a 

 pure white. The measurements were as follows : — ,^ . Total 

 length 271 mm., wing 117 mm., tail 114 mm. ? . Total 

 length 257 mm., wing 113 mm., tail 113 mm. 



Hence, having examples to show, both that the single- 

 and the double -spotted form may occur, pure and typical, 

 in one and the same brood, and also that the two forms 

 pair together, it seems difficult to defend the retaining of 

 '' L. major" as a species distinct from L. excubitor. In 

 order to show to what remarkably wide extent this species 

 is found to vary, I will enumerate below the twenty-six 

 specimens of L. excubitor from Norway now preserved 

 in the Christiania University Museum. Most of these were 

 shot or collected by myself ; and hence the sex, date, and 

 exact locality can be given for well-nigh all. The specimens 

 could, I feel sure, be arranged with equal correctness in seven 

 as in two different categories. 



SER. v. VOL. IV. D 



