LANIID.E. 



139 





THE GREAT GREY SHRIKE. 



Lanius excubitor, Linnieus. 



The Great (irey Shrike is a regular, conspicuous, and fairly 

 abundant visitor horn the Continent to the British Islands in autumn 

 and winter ; while in England it has occasionally been observed in 

 summer, although there is no evidence that it has ever bred there. 

 It is naturally more frequent on the eastern side than on the west, 

 but though records are wanting from the Hebrides, it has occurred in 

 the Orkneys and was seen by Saxby in the Shetlands. To Ireland, 

 according to Mr. More, it is a rare and uncertain visitor in winter. 



Many of the specimens obtained in winter have a white bar on 

 the primaries only, the bases of the secondaries being black; 

 whereas in the typical L. excubitor the bases of the secondaries are 

 white, and the wing exhibits a double bar. The form with only one 

 bar is the L. major of Pallas, and, as shown by Prof. CoUett (Ibis 

 1886, pp. 30-40) it meets and interbreeds with L. excubitor in 

 Scandinavia, typical examples of both races being actually found in 

 the same brood, while intermediate forms are not uncommon. 

 Where the sexes have been determined, the double-barred bird has 

 generally proved to be a male, and the single-barred a female. 

 Typical L. excubitor breeds as far east as St. Petersburg, beyond 

 which, in Siberia, L. major becomes the representative form. In 

 the valley of the Yenesei the latter meets, but does not interbreed 

 with, the whiter-winged L. Icucoptcrus ; the last ranging through 



