3 
found nests in much the same places as the Missel-Thrush would have chosen, about halfway 
out on a bough of some tree whose name I forget, though its thorny character is fresh in my 
memory. One I found, and from which I had seen the bird fly off, was so immediately over my 
track, that, pulling up my horse, I proceeded to inspect its contents, standing up on the saddle ; 
unfortunately the horse moved on before I was ready, and I was left like Absalom.” In a note 
lately received by the authors, he observes that it begins to nest about the latter part of April, 
and that the complement of the eggs is five. Major Irby writes to us :—“ As far as my observa- 
tion goes, this bird is a spring migrant. It is common, and breeds near Seville, but not in the 
neighbourhood of Gibraltar, where I have only seen it in autumn. ‘The last I saw was on the 
8th of November, the first on the 8th of April.” Mr. A. C. Smith says that Z. meridionalis is 
the common Grey Shrike of Portugal; and Dr. E. Rey, who was for some time in that country, 
tells us that he had opportunities of observing the species, and he found it to differ in appearance 
and habits from L. excubitor, with which he was well acquainted. Mr. C. A. Wright includes it 
among the birds of Malta, observing :— Of Lanius meridionalis several specimens have been 
taken. I have two in my possession, one of them, a female in the plumage of the adult male, 
killed on the 12th of February 1861.” 
We have ourselves never seen a really authenticated specimen of the present species from 
any locality south or east of the Spanish peninsula, and we beg for further information on the 
subject. The bird recorded under this name as common in Tangiers by Mr. C. F. Tyrwhitt 
Drake is LZ. algeriensis; and all the references to its occurrence in Tunis and Algeria also belong 
to the latter species. A Grey Shrike occurs in the Canaries, but the species is not yet determined. 
Mr. F. Du Cane Godman writes to us on the subject :—“ I saw only one pair of Grey Shrikes in 
Teneriffe, and could not get a shot at them, so am not certain as to the species. Bolle calls it 
L. excubitor; and it may be, for all I know to the contrary. It is most frequent in the eastern 
islands, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, which I did not visit.” The Shrike of the Canaries will, we 
believe, turn out eventually to be L. algeriensis. 
To the eastward the Southern Grey Shrike has been recorded from Italy, Sicily, and 
Sardinia; but in his latest work, Salvadori says that he is very doubtful as to the occurrence of 
this species anywhere in Italy, never having observed it either alive or in any of the many 
collections of Italian birds which he has examined. He adds that it is also wanting both in 
Sicily and Sardinia, and confesses his error in having included it in his list of the birds of the 
latter island, the supposed specimen in the museum of Cagliari being really Z. minor. Professor 
Doderlein confirms the above statement, both as to the Province of Modena and the Island of 
Sicily. 
In ‘The Ibis’ for 1859 Lord Lilford wrote :—“TI shot a specimen of this bird in the Island 
of Corfu on the 29th of April 1857. It is far from common in these parts. The Corfu bird- 
stuffer assured me that my bird was the only one he had ever seen.” We have been somewhat 
sceptical as to the correct identification of this specimen; but Lord Lilford assures us that the 
bird was undoubtedly of the present species; so that its eastward range as a migrant to the Ionian 
Islands is established. Lindermayer states that it isa rare summer visitant to Greece, arriving 
late in April, remaining to breed, and leaving at the end of August. In his account of the 
Natural History of the Cyclades, Dr. Erhard states that Lanius meridionalis is only a rare 
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