434 On the ' Ornithologie Nordost-Afrika' s.' 



cannot understand Mr. Layard identifying with T. erijthro- 

 pterus (B. S. Afr. p. 161), ever occurs to the north of the 

 tropic of Capricorn. It, as well as T. remigialis, Finsch & 

 Hart!., of which I have specimens, is an excellent species, most 

 nearly allied to T. cucuUatus of Algeria. I do not for one moment 

 believe in the numerous species or races of Lanius auriculatus 

 enumerated by various authors, I have examined specimens of 

 the so-called L. rutilans of Temminck, from the River Gambia, 

 and consider them to be nothing more than the common species 

 in winter plumage. It seems pretty certain that the bird pos- 

 sesses a winter dress ; for remains of it are to be traced on nearly 

 every specimen shot on its first return to Europe. In the same 

 way, I believe that L. niloticus, L. pectoralis, L. jardinii, and 

 the variety " dorso toto atro " are nothing more than L. auricu- 

 latus in various stages of plumage. 



L. collurio migrates to South Africa, where it was said by 

 Levaillant to breed — a statement reproduced by Dr. von Heuglin 

 without any mark of doubt, but it is probably not more true than 

 any other of Levaillant's stories. To return to L. auriculatus, it 

 does not seem to extend its range beyond North-eastern Africa 

 and the Gold Coast on the west {fide Hartlaub) ; and more evi- 

 dence than the existence of a specimen in the Stuttgart Museum 

 is required to prove that it ever reaches South Africa. In a 

 recent paper read before the Zoological Society, I have, in com- 

 pany with Mr. Dresser, put together a few notes on the Grey 

 Shrikes, so that only a short commentary is needful here. Were 

 it not that Dr. von Heuglin expressly states that he himself ob- 

 tained the L, excuhitor in Egypt and Arabia Petrsea, we should 

 have been sceptical as to its ever occurring so far south ; and it is 

 to be hoped that he can refer to specimens to prove the fact. 

 On the other hand, the bird mentioned by Mr. Tristram (Ibis, 

 1867, p. 364) turns out to be not L. excubitor, but L. lahtora. 

 Dr. von Heuglin is quite right not to include L. algeriensis 

 among the birds of North-eastern Africa, although Strickland 

 recorded it from Kordofan. The species is, however, resident in 

 Algeria; and probably the young L. lahtora {L. fallax, Finsch 

 & Ilartlaub), with the under pai-ts greyish, was mistaken for 

 it. On the authority of W, von Miiller, who states that L. 



