5 [Vol. xi. 



quills is very large (5*5 inches), whereas in Th. branickii it 

 is only 2'5 inches. The tarsus is short, scarcely more than 

 half of its front surface being feathered. 



"Dimensions of the male: wing 24 - 4 inches, tail 14*4, 

 culmen 3*7, tarsus 3*5. 



" One specimen only was obtained — in the environments 

 of Yakutsk, in Eastern Siberia. Judging from its coloration, 

 the bird is in its second plumage." 



Dr. Sushkin also exhibited a pair of Shrikes and a pair 

 of Merlins procured by himself in the western part of the 

 Kirghiz Steppes, to the north of the Caspian and Aral 

 Seas. The Shrike was described by him in 1895 as Lanius 

 eleagni, of which the male presented a combination of the 

 characters of the common Lanius collurio and the Red-tailed 

 Shrikes (Otomela). 



The Merlin was described as new under the name of 



Lithofalco .esalon pallidus, n. subsp. 



He made the following remarks on the species : — 

 " I exhibit an adult male and female of this Merlin. 

 Both sexes show a strikingly pale coloration, and the dark 

 markings on the under surface are much reduced in size 

 when compared with L. asalon of Europe. In the male, 

 too, the crown of the head is suffused with rufous, this effect 

 being produced by the indistinct rufescent margins to the 

 feathers, and most of the feathers of the mantle are also 

 tipped with rufous. In the female the geueral colour of the 

 upper sui'face is very pale and at the same time very rufous, 

 and all the feathers of the mantle are cross-barred. The 

 young bird is similar to the adult female, but the bluish tint 

 is wanting. The wing-lining in these birds is clear, with 

 brownish-rufous cross -markings, united by the shaft-stripes. 

 In the European birds the feathers are brown with whitish 

 spots. In the adult bird of this pale Merlin the axillaries 

 are whitish with irregular shaft-stripes, whereas in the adult 

 males of L. tesalon the axillaries remain barred. 



" This form of the Merlin breeds in the before-mentioned 



