94 Mr. J. I. S. Whitaker on Tunisian Birds. 



streams of the Medjerdah Valley^ as also on the slopes of 

 the adjacent hills, but never in high forest. A shy bird^ and 

 much oftener heard than seen. Call-note or song rich and 

 clear. The following fairly expresses it : — '' tit, wot, wot, 

 tit, tit,^^ uttered sometimes from top of a bush. 



The present species apparently does not occur far south of 

 the Tell Mountains, although it extends westward into 

 Algeria and Morocco, where it appears to be much commoner 

 than in Tunis. 



14. Lanius fallax. (Cat. B. Brit. Mus. viii. p. 247.) 



Mr. Aplin brought home with him a specimen of Grey 

 Shrike diifering entirely from the ordinary form found in 

 South Tunis, which is L. dealbatus, or L. elegans, according 

 to Dresser. I was at first inclined to consider this Shrike a 

 hybrid between L. dealbutus and L. algeriensis, but on 

 further consideration, and on comparing it with the speci- 

 mens in the British Museum labelled L. fallax, I find it 

 agrees so closely with these, being indeed I may say abso- 

 lutely identical with some of them, that 1 have decided to 

 refer it to the present form. 



Mr. Aplin secured the specimen in question, a female, 

 near Gabes on the 27th January last, and apparently it was 

 the only one of this form that he met with. Had the locality 

 been further north, where L. dealbatus and L, algeriensis 

 meet, there would have been more reason, perhaps, for sup- 

 posing it to be a hybrid, and less in favour of its being 

 L. fallax. 



I believe this is the first recorded instance of L. fallax 

 having been found in this part of North Africa, although it 

 occurs both to the east and to the west, viz. in N.E. Africa, 

 Palestine, and further east on the one side, and in the 

 Canary Islands on the other. Such being the case, there- 

 fore, the fact of this Shrike occurring in South Tunis is 

 perhaps not to be wondered at, the wonder, if any, being 

 that it should not be of more common occurrence there. It 

 would be interesting to know whether this form be more com- 

 mon further south than Tunis, in Tripoli for instance, M'hich 



