610 BRITISH BIRDS. 



LANIUS RUFUS*. 

 WOODCHAT SHRIKE. 



(PLATE 11.) 



Lanius senator, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 94 (1758) ; Gray, Hand-l. B. i. p. 393 (1869). 



Lanius rufus, Briss. Orn. ii. p. 147 (1700) ; Lath. Gen. Syn. Suppl. i. p. 283 (1787) ; 

 et auctorum plurimoruin Naumann, Temmiiick, (Bonaparte), Degland, Gerbe, 

 (Kaup), Filippi, Heuglin, Brehm, Tristram, Krilper, Salvadori, Salvin, Hartlaub, 

 C. A. Wright, LUford, Hemprich, Ehrenberg, Blanford, Blasius, &c., nee Linn. 



Lanius minor primus, Tunst. Orn. Brit. p. 2 (1771). 



Lanius pomeranus, Sparrm. Mm. Carls, t. i. (1786). 



Lanius collurio, y. rufus, Gtnel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 301 (1788). 



Lanius rutilus, Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 70 (1790). 



Lanius ruficeps, Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl. ii. p. 1327 (1805). 



Lanius ruficollis, Shaw, Gen. Zool. vii. pt. 2, p. 316 (1809). 



Phoneus rufus (Briss.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 33 (1829). 



Lanius melanotos, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 238 (1831). 



Enneoctonus rufus (Briss.), Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. and N. Amer. p. 26 (1838). 



Lanius rutilans, Temm. Man. d'Orn. iv. p. 601 (1840). 



Enneoctonus pomeranus (Sparrm.), Cab. Mus. Hein. i. p. 73 (1851). 



Enneoctonus rutilans (Temm.), Cab. Mus. Hein. i. p. 73 (1851). 



Lanius badius, Hartl. Journ. Orn. 1854, p. 100. 



Lanius auriculatus (Miill.), apud Cassin, Proc. Phil. Acad. 1864, p. 238. 



Enneoctonus auriculatus (Miill.), apud Gurney, Ibis, 1868, p. 159. 



The Woodchat Shrike is an accidental visitor to England, chiefly during 

 the seasons of migration. At least a score of examples have been obtained 

 since the specimen which was sent to Gilbert White, and mentioned in a 

 letter sent by that naturalist to Pennant in 1769. It has even been stated 

 that this bird has once or twice nested at Freshwater in the Isle of Wight 

 (see c Ibis/ 1865, p. 1 7) . Most of the specimens obtained in England have 

 occurred in the southern and eastern counties. Although Don included 

 it in his list of the birds of Forfarshire, the bird appears never to have 

 been seen or obtained in Scotland by subsequent observers. 



Upon the continent the Woodchat Shrike breeds in the basin of the 

 Mediterranean, its northern range extending into South France, Holland, 

 Germany (as far north and east as Pomerania), and Austria. Eastwards 

 it is found as far as Western Persia, its range extending northwards into 



* This is a melancholy instance of the mischief produced by the " Stricklandian Code," 

 the votaries of which appear to be pretty evenly divided on the subject, half of them 

 voting for L. auriculatus and half for L. pomeranus. It is a pity that these ornithological 

 socialists cannot let existing institutions alone, and allow us to retain the time-honoured 

 name of L. rufus without dispute. 



