LANIUS. 37 



Lanius excubitor. GREAT GREY SHRIKE. 

 Lanius Excubitor, Linnaeus, S. N. i. p. 135 (1766). 



Lanius excubitor, Naum. ii. p. 7; Macg. iii. p. 492 ; Hewitson, 

 p. 69; Gray, p. 81; Yarr. ed. 2, i. p. 156; id. ed. 3, i. 

 p. 165; Newton, i. p. 199; Gould, ii. pi. 13; Harting, 

 p. 9; Dresser, iii. p. 375. 



Great Grey Shrike, Yarr. ed. 1, i. p. 149. 



Excubitor = a watchman ; from excubo = I sleep out of doors, keep watch. 



A rare autumnal visitant to the British Islands. Breeds 

 in Central Europe, wintering on the northern shores of the 

 Mediterranean, interbreeding in Scandinavia and North 

 Russia with its near ally L. major, and in South Russia with 

 an equally closely allied species, L. homeyeri. 



Lanius major. PALLAS'S GREAT GREY SHRIKE. 



Lanius major, Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso-As. i. p. 401 (1811). 



Major = greater. 



An occasional visitant on migration to various parts of 

 Great Britain. It breeds from North Scandinavia eastwards 

 throughout Siberia. 



[Lanius exculitorides. AMERICAN GREY SHRIKE. 



Lanius excubitorides, Swainson fy Richardson, 

 Faun. Bor.-Am. ii. p. 115, pi. 34 (1831). 



Lanius excubitoroides, Newton, i. p. 203; Harting, p. 98. 



Excubitorides = resembling (Lanius) excubitor. 



The supposed instances of this bird's occurrence in Britain 

 (cf. Harting and Newton, /. c.) seem all to have been those 

 of Lanius major. L. excubitorides is now classified by the 

 American ornithologists as a subspecies of L. ludovicianus , L.] 



