610 BRITISH BIRDS. 
LANIUS RUFUS*. 
WOODCHAT SHRIKE. 
(Puate 11.) 
Lanius senator, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 94 (1758); Gray, Hand-l. B. i. p. 393 (1869). 
Lanius rufus, Briss. Orn. ii. p. 147 (1760); Lath. Gen. Syn. Suppl. i. p. 283 (1787) ; 
et auctorum plurimorum— Naumann, Temminck, (Bonaparte), Degland, Gerbe, 
(Kaup), Filippi, Heuglin, Brehm, Tristram, Kriiper, Salvadori, Salvin, Hartlaub, 
C. A. Wright, Lilford, Hemprich, Ehrenberg, Blanford, Blasius, &c., nee Linn. 
Lanius minor primus, Zwnst. Orn. Brit. p. 2 (1771). 
Lanius pomeranus, Sparrm. Mus. Carls. t. i. (1786). 
Lanius collurio, y. rufus, Gimel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 801 (1788). 
Lanius rutilus, Zath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 70 (1790). 
Lanius ruficeps, Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl. ii. p. 1827 (1805). 
Lanius ruficollis, Shaw, Gen. Zool. vii. pt. 2, p. 316 (1809). 
Phoneus rufus (Driss.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 83 (1829). 
Lanius melanotos, Brehm, Vég. Deutschl. p. 238 (1831). 
Enneoctonus rufus (Briss.), Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. and N. Amer. p. 26 (1838). 
Lanius rutilans, /’emm. Man. d’Orn. iv. p. 601 (1840). 
Enneoctonus pomeranus (Sparrm.), Cab. Mus, Hein. i. p. 73 (1851), 
Enneoctonus rutilans (Zemm.), Cab. Mus. Hein. i. p. 73 (1851). 
Lanius badius, Hartl. Journ. Orn. 1854, p. 100. 
Lanius auriculatus (Miill.), apud Cassin, Proc. Phil. Acad. 1864, p. 238. 
Enneoctonus auriculatus (Miill.), apud Gurney, Ibis, 1868, p. 159. 
The Woodchat Shrike is an accidental visitor to England, chiefly during 
the seasons of migration. At least a score of examples have been obtained 
since the specimen which was sent to Gilbert White, and mentioned in a 
letter sent by that naturalist to Pennant in 1769. It has even been stated 
that this bird has once or twice nested at Freshwater in the Isle of Wight 
(see ‘ Ibis,” 1865, p.17). Most of the specimens obtained in England have 
occurred in the southern and eastern counties. Although Don included 
it in his list of the birds of Forfarshire, the bird appears never to have 
been seen or obtained in Scotland by subsequent observers. 
Upon the continent the Woodchat Shrike breeds in the basin of the 
Mediterranean, its northern range extending into South France, Holland, 
Germany (as far north and east as Pomerania), and Austria. Eastwards 
itis found as far as Western Persia, its range extending northwards into 
* This is a melancholy instance of the mischief produced by the “Stricklandian Code,” 
the votaries of which appear to be pretty evenly divided on the subject, half of them 
voting for Z, awriculatus and half for L. pomeranus. It is a pity that these ornithological 
socialists cannot let existing institutions alone, and allow us to retain the time-honoured 
name of L, rufus without dispute. 
