230 



28.8x18.7; while Bau mentions a very small egg, 22.5x17. Average 

 weight, 257 mg. (Rey): 281 mg. (Bau). 



104. Great Grey Shrike, Lanius excubitor L. 

 Geographical Races. 



a. Northern Great Grey Shrike, L. excubitor excuhitor L. 



Plate 24, fig. 1—6 (N. Germany). 



Eggs: Thienemann, Fortpfl., Tab. XXXI, fig. 1, a — d. Hewitson, 

 I. Ed. I, pi. CVIII, fig. 1 ; II. Ed. I. pi. XV, fig. 1 ; III. Ed. I, pi. XX, 

 fig. 1. Baedeker, Tab. 52, fig. 1. Taczanowski, Tab. XXXVIII, fig. 1. 

 Seebohm, Br. Birds, pi. 11; id. Col. Fig. pi. 54. Dresser, pi. — , fig. 6 — 8. 

 Krause, pi. — , fig. 1 — 36. 



Foreign Names: Bohemia: luhyk sedivy. Denmark: Oraa 

 Tornskade. Finland: Isompi-Lepinkaineyi. Fra,ace -/Fie-grieche. Germany: 

 Orauwiirger. Helgoland: Oroot VerwoaJirfink. Holland: Klopekster. 

 Hungary: Nagy orgehics. Italy: Averla maggiore. Norway: Varsler. 

 Poland: Dzierzla srokosz. Sweden: Storre Tornskata. 

 Lanius excubitor L. Newton, ed. Yarrell, I. p. 199. Dresser, Birds of 

 Europe, III, p. 375; id. Man. Pal. Birds, p. 228. Saunders, Man. p. 147. 

 L. excubitor excubitor L. Hartert, Vog. Pal. Fauna, p. 418. 



Breeding Range: Continental Europe, excepting the Iberian, 

 Italian, and Balkan Peninsulas and S. Russia. 

 Con- In Scandinavia and N. Russia this bird is only a summer visitor, 



and is nowhere very common. In Norway scattered pairs are met with 

 even in the birch region of E. Finmark, but it is scarce in the S. of 

 the country, while in Sweden it is perhaps least common in the N. 

 In Russia its eastern limit appears to extend beyond the Urals to the 

 lower part of the Ob valley (lat. 67 i°). It is very scarce in the Russian 

 Baltic Provinces, and has not been recorded of late years as breeding 

 in Denmark, but is fairly generally distributed throughout Germany in 

 suitable localities as a resident or partial migrant, though always local. 

 On the moors of Brabant and Belgium it is not uncommon, and is found 

 in small numbers in most parts of France excepting Brittany, Poitou, 

 and the Mediterranean district. In Switzerland it breeds not only in the 

 plain but also in the valleys up to heights of 4000 and even 5500 ft. 

 in the Alps and Jura. A few pairs appear to breed in the valleys on 

 the Italian side of the Alps, while in Austria and Hungary it is tolerably 

 common, and has been known to breed in Carinthia. 

 nm*. The haunts chiefly affected by this bird are the edges of forests, 



clumps of trees on moorlands, and orchards. Here it chooses a site 

 which provides a wide outlook, and generally builds its nest at a con- 



tinental 



Europe. 



