THE BIRDS OF MESOPOTAMIA. 247 
Great Tits from the South Caspian forest I consider to be inseparable from the 
typical form, an opinion I believe Buxton independently has come to. 
59. Penduline Tit. Anthoscopus pendulinus. 
Anthoscopus pendulinus persimilis, Hart. (Novit, Zool., xxv., p. 308, 
1918—Eregli, Asia Minor). 
The Penduline Tit appears to be a rare winter visitor to Mesopotamia. Buxton 
met with a family party in a ziziphus treein a garden at Amara on October 
25th and another party at Ali Gharbi on poplar scrub on November 17th. 
Venning obtained one at Busra on April 21st. 
Three specimens examined. This Tit appears to take 15 months to become 
adult, that is to say, to became adult at the second autumn moult, unless it has 
a spring moult, of which I have seen no evidence in a good many examined. 
Two of the above specimens are in the first winter dress without the distinctive 
adult markings ; the Basra bird is adult, but nearly all the feather on the head 
have slipped ! so that the determination of the race is a difficult matter. They 
certainly do not belong to the typical race as they are too small and pale. They 
also are not jurartensis. They agree very well with Hartert’s persimilis, 
specimens of which from Kaisarieh and Lake Urmia I have compared them 
with, in size of wing, paleness, and, as far as I could make out in the single 
adult, in their having the chestnut line above the black forehead very narrow. 
Zarudny has not made matters any easier by recording the typical form and 
P. caspius as winter visitors to the Karun district and afterwards (Mess. Orn., 
1913) describing a new race, menzbiert, from the same district! According to 
him menzbieri has a wider frontal chestnut band than the typical race which 
persimilis certainly has not. There appears to be no proof that any Anthos- 
copus breeds in the Karun district. 
60. Lesser Grey Shrike, Lanius minor, 
Lanius minor, Gm. (Syst. Nat. I., p. 308, 1788—Italy). 
This is a passage migrant in small numbers from Urfa in the north to Fao in 
the south where Cumming noted it as passing in March to May and again in 
September ; most appear to pass through in the last half of April. It comes back 
again early, during the third week of August, and the passage lasts until the third 
week in September. Possibly some breed in Mesopotamia as Sassi records 
one from Pechabour near Mosul on June Ist. Zarudny says it nests in small 
numbers in the Zagros. 
Specimens examined: Q Sheik Saad, 14-4-17; Tekrit, 17-4-19. (P. Z. C. 
and R. E. C.); ¢, Amara, 14-9-18 (P. A. B.); d Basra, 20-8-19 (L. Home). 
61. Great Grey Shrike. Lanius excubitor. 
(1) Lanius excubitor pallidirostris, Cass. (Proc. Acad. Philad. v., p. 244, 
1852—E. Africa).—Assimilis auct.) 
(2) Lanius excubitor aucheri, Bp. (Rev. and Mag. Zool., 1853, p. 294— 
Persia)=(fallav auct). 
The status of the Great Grey Shrikes of Mesopotamia is rather obscure ; 
records refer to Grey Shrikes without discrimination of races of course, and some 
may even refer to the Lesser Grey Shrike, so that I must go almost entirely on 
skins. Of fourteen specimens examined three are aucheri and the rest palli- 
dirostris ; all were obtained in winter. 
The Great Grey Shrike is probably a winter visitor, a few arriving in September, 
most of them early in October. Cheesman obtained pallidirostris at Shaiba 
on September 11th and Cumming got one at Fao also in September (erroneously 
recorded by Sharpe as fallax). All the others were got between October and 
February though Grey Shrikes are noted up to March 8th. They are widely 
distributed, singly and sparsely, inhabiting gardens but more especially. thin 
scrub on the desert, or even quite bare desert. Of the 3 examples of aucheri 
