378 Mr. H. E. Dresser on 



Siberian form can be distinguislied are the brownish 

 tinge of colour in the plumage^ the constant vermiculation 

 of the underparts, and the general absence of the second alar 

 bar. 



There is, however^ one specimen of a Grey Shrike from the 

 island of Askold, near Vladivostock^ in the collection of Mr. 

 Seebohm, which is extremely puzzling. This bird has no trace 

 of vermiculations on the underparts^ nor any trace of brown 

 in the plumage, but it has a single alar bar and has the rump 

 and upper tail-coverts pure white. This specimen was received 

 by Mr. Seebohm from Dr. Taczanowski^ and the latter gentle- 

 man evidently considered this form to be the fully adult of 

 Lanius major, Pall., as he writes [op. cit. p. 489) : — " The 

 adult of this Eastern Shrike {L. major) does not differ from 

 the adult of L. excubitor except in the larger amount of white 

 on the forehead, and in having the upper tail-coverts and the 

 lower rump pure white, or at most with a grey tinge on the 

 tip of the tail-coverts, whereas the European form has the 

 entire upper surface uniform light grey, paling indistinctly 

 in colour on the lower back. Moreover the alar bar is 

 restricted to the primaries, the secondaries having only 

 white on the base of the outer web of the feathers next to 

 the primaries, the succeeding secondaries having no white on 

 them, and the secondaries in general are blacker. The dif- 

 ference between the young and immature birds of the two 

 forms is at the first glance much more striking." I cannot, 

 however, agree that this is the adult of L. major, as in all the 

 large series I have examined this is the only specimen I have 

 met with lacking the vermiculations on the underparts 

 and all trace of the brown tinge in the plumage. Besides, 

 Professor Bogdanoff, who has probably examined more speci- 

 mens of Siberian Shrikes than any other ornithologist, does 

 not even mention this form. I may add that Professor Bog- 

 danoff, like Dr. Sharpe and myself, notices the close similarity 

 between specimens from Siberia and North America, but states 

 that, compared with American examples, the Siberian form 

 is purer in colour, and that the female of the American form 

 is much browner than in the Siberian, as are also the young. 



