594 MESSRS. DRESSER AND SHARPE [June 23, 
4. LANIUS MERIDIONALIS. 
Above dark plumbeous; scapulars somewhat lighter and having 
the extremities white, which show a distinct white mark when con- 
trasted with the dark grey of the upper surface of the body; quills 
black, the inner web white at the base, the outer web of the 
primaries also white at the base, forming a small white alar bar, the 
secondaries tipped with white; tail black, all but the two centre 
feathers tipped with white, the latter colour occupying more of each 
feather until the two outermost, which have the outer edge of the 
feather almost all white as well as the apical half of the feather; a 
very narrow line of feathers along the base of the forehead, extending 
backwards over the eyes and forming an indistinct superciliary 
streak, white; loral space and ear-coverts black, the latter having 
the shafts rather distinct, which gives them a somewhat hoary 
appearance; cheeks and chin white; rest of the under surface of 
the body rose-colour, grey on the flanks ; vent and under wing- and 
tail-coverts white ; bill and feet black. Total length 9-2, inches, of 
wing 4,2, ; tail 4,8, ; tarsus 1,°,. 
The female is precisely similar to the male; but the white ends 
to the scapulars are not quite so broad, so that there is not such a 
conspicuous white patch on these parts. 
Our description is taken from a very fine male lent to us by Lord 
Lilford, who procured it in the Coto del Rey, Audalucia, in May, 
1869. 
This species is nearly allied to Lantus algeriensis, but differs in 
many important characters, viz. in the total absence of white over 
the eye and on the forehead in the latter species, also in the alar 
bar being much smaller in the present bird, and in the breast being 
rose-coloured, whereas in L. algeriensis it is plumbeous grey. The 
bill of this species is much longer and more slender than in its 
Algerian ally. 
As far as our investigations have hitherto carried us, we cannot 
but consider that Lanius meridionalis is a species confined to the 
south of France, Spain, and Portugal, though it may possibly occur 
along the northern portion of the Mediterranean basin. Lord Lilford, 
who knows the species well, assures us that he shot one specimen 
in Corfu (ef. also ‘ Ibis,’ 1860, p. 135) in April 1857, where, how- 
ever, it was ‘‘far from common.’ This specimen he no longer 
possesses ; and although we have used the utmost exertion to obtain 
specimens of the true LZ. meridionalis shot anywhere eastward of 
Spain, we have been unable to procure any. Dr. Salvadori kindly 
informs us that the bird called Z.meridionalis by him in his ‘Catalogue 
of the Birds of Sardinia’ he has since discovered to be only DL. minor 
in fully adult plumage ; and he likewise expresses his belief that the 
occurrence referred to by Prince Bonaparte of a specimen of LZ. 
meridionalis in the neighbourhood of Rome is also open to question. 
Dr. von Heuglin doubts the occurrence of this bird in North- 
eastern Africa, where it has been accorded a place on the authority 
of Von Miiller (Journ. f. Orn. 1855, p. 409); and in this we heartily 
coincide with him. 
