1917-] Ornithology of Malta. 325 



The local name given I obtained from Chicaci, and I am 

 quite sure that the name Cacciamendula given by Giglioli 

 with two points of interrogation is only intended for the 

 Woodchat- Shrike. 



80. (78) Lanius excubitor meridionalis Temm. The South 

 European Grey Shrike. 



Local name : Ihighiddiein. 



Schembri records a specimen shot from a flock of five by 

 Mr. Baldassare EUul in September 1837 ; he also states that 

 the last specimen seen by him occurred in September 1839. 

 Wright mentions also two specimens in his collection, one 

 of which, he says, is a female in the plumage of the adult 

 male, and was killed on the 12th of February, 1861. I 

 have seen three specimens in Mr. MicalleFs collection, one 

 of which was shot in the neighbourhood of Gargur in the 

 autumn of 1902 ; another was taken in the vicinity of 

 Krendi in the autumn of 1906; and the third was bought 

 in the Valletta market in the spring of 1909. Schembri, 

 Giglioli, and Blasius give Bughajjat as the local name for 

 this species, thus making no difPerence between it and the 

 previous one. The name whicli I have selected is the one by 

 which Mr. Micallef used to call the three specimens he 

 possessed. 



81. (82) Lanius senator senator L. The Woodchat-Shrike. 

 Local name : Cacciatne7ululu. 



This is one of our partial resident and breeding species ; 

 it generally arrives late in the spring and is to be met with 

 in small numbers throughout the summer. Fresh arrivals 

 are usually observed towards the beginning of autumn, and 

 these, together with those which arrived here in the spring 

 and those bred locally, depart at the approach of winter. A 

 few years ago this Shrike could be considered as pretty 

 common. At present, however, it is undoubtedly very 

 scarce : as a breeding-bird it is becoming rarer every year ; 

 this is due to the local persecution it is subjected to. 



