THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 221 



faint deviations in their colorations, that it is impossible to regard 

 them as a distinct and independent species. The example desig- 

 nated as L. speculigerua (Taczanowsky) and collected by Dybowsky 

 in Datiria, is unmistakably the oldest of these birds. The white 

 speculum on the primaries is considerably larger than in any of the 

 other examples, and the light creamy brown of the head and back 

 has a small admixture of light grey. Very similar to this example 

 is a very pretty creamy-grey coloured (isabellgraues) male in the 

 Museum of Bremen, collected by Finch in Turkestan. 



L. pJujenicuroides (Sewertzoff) from Turkestan, and L. isabellinus 

 (Ehrenberg) from Jumfudda, have smaller specula, and their heads 

 and backs are of a browner colour. They may possibly be young 

 males. All these examples, together with two young specimens 

 described as L. arenarius, and one young example described 

 as L. vpeculigerus, resemble each other completely in their 

 measurements as well as in the form of their wings and tails; 

 while the individual caught here, and contained in my collec- 

 tion, is also in perfect agreement with these specimens in all re- 

 spects, excepting that it is rather more faded, and that, as already 

 mentioned, one of the primaries of its first autumn plumage is 

 replaced by a new feather displaying the speculum ; otherwise it is 

 scarcely distinguishable from any one of the young birds men- 

 tioned above. 



The case is different with three other specimens in the Berlin 

 Museum, collected by Ehrenberg in Arabia, and named by him 

 L. isabellinus ; these consist of an old male, an old female, and a 

 young bird. They are strikingly larger, and have the tail strongly 

 rounded off. Sewertzoff, in his Fauna of Turkestan, cites a 

 L. isabellinus (Ehrenberg), which he describes as a Steppe variety, 

 adding that it is constantly larger than his L. pfimnicur aides, and 

 that only the four median feathers of the tail are of equal length ; 

 while in the latter species i.e. L. phcenicuroides the ten inner 

 feathers are of equal length. He further states that he had 

 examined a considerable number of examples of this L. isdbellinus 

 and of his L. phoenicuroides, but had never discovered an inter- 

 mediate form. There can accordingly be hardly any doubt that 

 this last-named Shrike of Sewertzoff's from Turkestan is identical 

 with Ehrenberg's three larger examples from Arabia, and that they 

 belong to a distinct species. 



The breeding range of this species i.e. L. isabellinus extends 

 from the Khirgiz Steppes and Turkestan to eastern Mongolia and 

 Datiria. The eggs display all the pleasing colours and stages of 

 markings which are met with in L. collurio and L. pltcenicurus ; 

 from the most charming light red (Hellroth), with markings of 



