1 92 1.] the Near East and Tropical East Africa. G69 



Lanius excubitor elegans Swains, and 



Lanius excubitor aucheri Bp. 



The r.ingcs of these two races of Grej Shiike appear to 

 have a large overlap in southern Palestine and Egypt and 

 on the Red Sea Littoral. 



West of the Egyptian Delta (common at Mersa Matruh 

 but abs(nit from Solium) all birds are pure elegans, whilst 

 east of the Delta I obtained a pure aucheri at Helouan (Dec), 

 at Suez (May), and on the Suez Canal (Febr.). A bird from 

 Jericho in the Jordan Valley, where nearly all birds are 

 pure aucheri, is indeterminable, and can only be called 

 aucheri > elegans. Pure aucheri also occurs at the north end 

 of the Jordan Valley, all round the Sea of Galilee, and there 

 is a small colony a few miles north of Acre on the coast. 

 On the other hand, birds from the coastal plain of Palestine 

 south of Mount Carmel, where Grey Shrikes are very rare, 

 appear to be pure elegans. Lanius elegans becomes common 

 round Gaza and throughout northern Sinai, and is the usual 

 bird of the Egy])tian Desert east of the Delta and on the Suez 

 Canal throughout its length. There are no Grey Shrikes in 

 the Juda3an highlands, Syrian Desert, at Damascus, or in the 

 Lebanon, and I saw none in October when I motored down 

 the coast from Beyrout to Acre, except the one patch near 

 Acre. 



The colour on the upper parts of these races is not a 

 reliable character, though elegans usually has more white in 

 the wing and tail. The best guide is the colour of the under 

 parts, nearly always pure white in elegans and pale greyish- 

 blue in aucheri, and also the spot on the under wing-coverts, 

 which is always well-defined in aucheri and absent or ill- 

 defined in elegans. 



Lanius cristatus isabellinus Hemp. & Ehr. and 



Lanius cristatus phoenicuroides (Schalow). 



Both these Asiatic Shrikes occur fairly commonly in 

 Kenya Colony in about equal numbers froui the middle of 

 November to the end of January, or at least they did during 

 1915, 1910, and 1917. 



SER. XI. VOL. III. 2 Y 



