2 
Young. Above dingy ashy-brown, the dark plumbeous feathers appearing in some places on the crown; the 
scapular patch dirty white; wings and tail as in the adult; lores and eyebrow white; throat and 
abdomen dingy white; rest of the under surface of the body dull pink; bill horn-black, the lower 
mandible horn-brown. Total length 9:2 inches, culmen 0:7, wing 4:1, tail 4°5, tarsus 0°15. 
Obs. The alar speculum seems to vary considerably in size, apparently getting larger and more extended 
as the bird increases in age. Some individuals have a narrow black line across the base of the forehead, 
and have less white on this part and the eyebrow. 
THE Southern Grey Shrike represents the Great Grey Shrike in the southern countries of Europe 
proper, being plentiful in Spain and Portugal, as well as in southern France. It has also been 
recorded from many of the countries bordering the Mediterranean ; but we know that it has often 
been confounded with Lanius algeriensis and L. lahtora; so that many of these habitats are 
erroneous, and others are open to question. Much careful research will be necessary to determine 
accurately the exact range of the species. 
MM. Degland and Gerbe state that it is found in the south of France, and that according to 
M. Crespon it is most abundant in the department of Gard of anywhere in Europe. In the south 
of France, and especially near Nimes, where it is sedentary, it frequents the woods and especially 
arid stony places. The following extract is from the well-known work of MM. Jaubert and 
Barthélemy-Lapommeraye :—“ This is a very distinct species from the Great Grey Shrike, and is 
less rare in Provence than Roux considered it to be. Not only does it breed regularly there, but 
even remains during severe cold weather. It is principally found on the plains in the Crau or 
the Camargue, as also in the plateaux between the Durance and Verdun. Its nest is placed on 
high trees; and it evinces a preference for fir trees standing apart: in one of these trees we found 
anest of this species by the side of that of a Kestrel. It is generally constructed in a similar 
manner to that of L. excubitor, of a quantity of grass and small twigs, is of considerable size, and 
contains from four to five eggs.” 
As regards the present bird in Spain, Lord Lilford writes to us:—‘‘The Southern Grey 
Shrike is found in many parts of Spain, but, as far as my own observation goes, is not abundant 
in any part of that country. I found two pairs in a wild tract of country covered with brush- 
wood, near Aranjuez, in New Castille, in May 1865. The nest is rather difficult to find, being 
generally situated in the middle of some dense thorny evergreen bush. This Shrike has much 
the same habits as its near relation, L. evcubitor, but does not, I think, affect trees so much as 
that species, confining itself, in Spain at all events, to ‘matornal,’ 7. e. scrub of moderate height. 
It is a restless and noisy bird, and its note is a harsh guttural scream. I found it under precisely 
the same circumstances as above in May 1869, in Andalucia, and I have also observed it near 
Valentia. I saw a Grey Shrike in Aragon in 1867, which I feel convinced was L. excubitor; but 
I did not obtain the bird, and never met with the species on any other occasion in Spain.” 
Dresser has himself observed LZ. meridionalis in various parts of Spain, where it is found 
breeding; in general habits it much resembles L. excubitor. Myr. Howard Saunders gives the 
following note in his List of the Birds of Southern Spain, which embodies his experiences of 
this Shrike in the above-named country :—“ It is,” he writes, “generally distributed, ranging as 
far north as Aragon; but, owing to its shy nature, it appears rarer than it really is. I have 
