2650 Birds. 



Occurrence of the Greater Northern Shrike in Wanvickshire. — During the winter 

 of 1844-5, five specimens of gray shrikes were taken within a few miles of Stratford- 

 on-Avon, all of which I had opportunities of examining when in a fresh state : of 

 these, two were undoubted specimens of Lanius excubitor, and the other three re- 

 sembling the one mentioned by the Rev. James Smith (Zool. 2495). That it was a 

 distinct species I had not at the time any doubt, but neglected to make any close 

 examination. Two were males (ascertained by dissection), the other a female. Sub- 

 sequently I obtained two others ; one in the flesh, and one which was killed near 

 Broadway, in Worcestershire, and was exhibited in a bird-stuffer's window at Evesham 

 for several years. Unfortunately I took no measurements at the time, and the sex 

 was ascertained by the bodies after being skinned by the bird-stuffer ; however, such 

 dimensions as can be taken with any exactness from a preserved specimen I shall 

 proceed to give, first describing the plumage, &c. A comparison with L. excubitor 

 will perhaps be the most satisfactory method. The general colour of all the upper 

 parts is rather a darker but purer gray than in the commoner species ; all the under 

 parts are the same as in the last-mentioned species ; the quills, too, are similar, ex- 

 cept that only the primaries have a patch of white about their middle, whereas in L. 

 excubitor the secondaries also have a patch, giving the wing when closed two spots 

 of white instead of one. But a greater difference exists in the distribution of the 

 white and black of the tail : the outer tail-feather on each side of L. borealis has the 

 outer web white all its length, and the inner for only half its length ; the second has 

 the outer web white the whole length, but becoming extremely narrow towards the 

 base, leaving a narrow wedge-shaped space of black along the shaft ; the inner web 

 white for a little more than one-fourth from the tip ; the third has the outer and inner 

 web nearly equally tipped with white for scarcely so much as a fourth from the tip ; 

 the fourth has merely a spot of dirty white at the end ; middle tail-feather black : 

 L. excubitor has the outer tail-feather on each side entirely white ; the second with 

 only a narrow patch of black on the edge of the inner web near the base ; the third 

 with two similarly shaped but larger patches on both webs, opposite each other, the 

 inner one reaching the shaft and the outer one nearly so ; the fourth is tipped with 

 dirty white, and has a patch of the same extending across both webs and shaft at its 

 base ; middle tail-feather black : in fact, the outer tail-feathers of L. borealis are 

 black, marked with white, and in L. excubitor white, marked with black. The tails 

 of the yellow and gray wagtails are in some measure an illustration of this. 



DIMENSIONS. 



L. excubitor. L. borealis. 



in. lines. in. lines. 



Bill along the ridge „ 8£ „ 8| nearly 



Wing from carpal joint ... 4 9 4 6£ 



Tail 4 10 4 4 



Tarsus 11 10 



Middle toe and claw 10^ l H 



From these measurements it might be supposed that the two species are nearly of 

 the same size : when, however, in a fresh state, the superior bulk of L. excubitor is 

 sufficiently manifest ; and this circumstance led me at first to imagine that the diffe- 

 rences were merely those of sex. The most recently killed one that has come to my 



