Mr. H. Seebohm on the Ornithology of Siberia. 



no-yarsk', the most easterly locality hitherto recorded of the 

 Golden Oriole. 



LANIUS HOMEYERI, Cab. 



Great differences of opinion appear to exist as to the number 

 of species into which the Grey Shrikes ought to be divided. 

 Dresser and Sharpe, in their " Notes on Lanius excubitor 

 and its Allies" (P.Z. S. 1870, p. 590), recognized two Si- 

 berian species. Two skins from the Amoor, fortunately still 

 in the Swinhoe collection, were identified by these ornitho- 

 logists as adult and immature of Lanius lahtora (Sykes) . 

 The adult bird is stated to be " absolutely similar in every 

 respect " (the italics are not mine) to examples of old L. 

 lahtora from the Punjab. The second Siberian species was 

 identified doubtfully, from Pallas's description of L. major, 

 with the American L. borealis y Vieill. I think Dresser and 

 Sharpe were wrong in both their facts, but right in at least 

 one of their conclusions. The adult bird of the first species, 

 so far from being absolutely similar in every respect to L. 

 lahtora, differs from that species in having the general colour 

 of the upper parts considerably paler, and in wanting the 

 narrow black frontal line at the base of the bill. The im- 

 mature bird is what is generally recognized as L. major, Pall., 

 which these writers professed never to have seen. 



In the ' Journal fur Ornithologie ' (1873, p. 75) the sub- 

 ject is handled by Cabanis with that minute attention to 

 details so characteristic of the German mind, and two new 

 species are described, L. homeyeri and L. sphenocercus. In 

 addition L. major, Pall., is recognized as a Siberian bird. 



We may at once dismiss L. meridionalis , Temm., and L. 

 algeriensis, Less., as western forms, which have nothing to 

 do with Siberia. L. lahtora, Sykes, seems to me to have no 

 better claim to be considered a Siberian bird. In the allied 

 species black hairs, apparently an extension of the rictal 

 bristles, are found on the forehead at the base of the bill ; but 

 in L. lahtora, Sykes, more or less black feathers are found there 

 in addition, causing it to approach in this respect L. excubito- 

 roides, Swains., where these black feathers are still more 



