Occurrence of Pallas' s Grey Shrike in Scotland. 223 



reappearance of the identical malformation in a locality 

 so distant as Kirkcudbrightshire is still more remarkable. 

 And from various reports which I have heard of the occur- 

 rence of similar trout in other localities in the south of Scot- 

 land, there seems little reason to doubt but that the " tailless " 

 trout will prove to be a more common phenomenon than has 

 been hitherto supposed. But as regards the cause and origin 

 of this malformation our ignorance is still as complete as 

 before, and the whole subject is one whicli is wortliy of a 

 thorouo'h investigation. 



XVIII. On the Occurrence of Pallas's Grey Shrike in Scotland. 

 By Henry Seebohm, Esq., F.Z.S., etc. 



In the Museum of Science and Art in Edinburgh, there is 

 a specimen of Pallas's Grey Shrike, which was shot near 

 Kirriemuir in Forfarshire, in the winter of 1869. 



This species appears to be a comparatively frequent 

 visitor to our islands, though it has hitherto been over- 

 looked, probably in consequence of its similarity to its 

 western ally. I recently exhibited, at a meeting of the 

 Zoological Society in London, a fine specimen of the eastern 

 form, which had been obtained near Swansea ; and Dr Gadow, 

 who is employed at present upon the eighth volume of the 

 Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum, in which the shrike 

 will be included, informs me that there are two examples in 

 the national collection of British-killed Pallas's Grey Shrikes. 



Dresser, in his " Birds of Europe," does not include this 

 species, though he describes the young from Siberia as an 

 extraordinary Grey Shrike to which he is unable to give a 

 name. He seems to have been entirely unacquainted with 

 this interesting species, or to have confounded it with our 

 bird. The two species are very distinct, and ' have distinct 

 geographical ranges. In the Great Grey Shrike {Lanius 

 excuhitor), the outer webs of the primaries are white at the 

 base, and thus, when the wing is closed, a white bar is formed 

 across the part formed by the primaries. In Pallas's Grey 

 Shrike {Lanius major), exactly the same occurs, so that so 

 far as the prunaries are concerned, there is no difference in 



