Mr. II. Seebohm on the Ornithology of Siberia. 185 



developed. L. lahtora, Sykes, is probably entirely confined 

 to India, where it breeds though L. leucopygius, Hempr. apud 

 Severtz., from Turkestan, may prove to be this species. The 

 skin from the Amoor in the Swinhoe collection, which Sharpe 

 and Dresser incorrectly identified with L. lahtora, Sykes, 

 appears to me to be L. homeyeri, Cab., originally described 

 (loc. cit.) from South Russia. Hence it passes eastwards 

 through Turkestan, where it has been described by Severtzoff as 

 L. leucopterus (Ibis, 1876, p. 184), to Central Siberia, whence 

 Mr. Kibort has sent me two skins obtained by him at Kras- 

 no-yarsk' on the 18th of May and the 12th of August. East- 

 wards it appears to be found near Lake Baical (Tacz. Journ. 

 f. Orn. 1874, p. 322) and on the Amoor. In this species, as in 

 L. lahtora, Sykes, the secondaries are not only tipped with 

 white, but are always white on the basal half of both webs, 

 and some of them are always white on the entire inside web. 

 A third species having this peculiarity appears to be L. deal- 

 batus, Defil., from Algeria, Tunis, and Sennaar (fide skins in 

 the British Museum) . This species appears to be interme- 

 diate in the colour of the upper parts between L. lahtora, 

 Sykes, and L. homeyeri, Cab., differing also from the former 

 in wanting the narrow black frontal line of feathers, and 

 from the latter in its smaller size and distinct geographical 

 range. 



LANIUS MAJOR, Pall. 



My immature bird from the Amoor is undistinguishable 

 from L. boreahs, Vieill. ; but I have seen an almost complete 

 series from it to L. excubitor, Linn. That the amount of 

 white at the base of both webs of the secondaries is not a 

 question of age, appears to me to be sufficiently proved by 

 the skin of a nestling from Baden in Dresser's collection, in 

 which the white on the secondaries is as much developed as 

 in typical skins of fully adult L. excubitor, Linn. The only 

 explanation that I can suggest is that L. excubitor, Linn., is 

 the western form, which in Europe may be said to be almost 

 pure-bred. In Asia it would appear to interbreed along the 

 whole line with L. borealis, Vieill., which becomes the pre- 



SER. iv. VOL. iv. o 



