LANIUS. 61 



Family LANIID^. 



Genus LANIUS Linnseus, Syst. Nat. 1758, p. 93. 



Type : L. excuhitor Linn. 



Lanius = a butoher ; a name first applied by Gesner, in reference to the 

 bird's habits. 



Lanius excubitor. Great Grey Shrike. 



Lanius excubitor Linnceus, Syst. Nat. 1758, p. 94 : 



Sweden. 



Lanius excubitor Linn. ; Oadow, Gat. Birds B. M. viii. 1883, 

 p. 237 ; B. 0. IT. List, 1st ed. 1883, p. 37 ; Saunders, Manual, 

 2nd ed. 1899, p. 147. 

 ExcHbUor = a watchman ; from excuhare = to keep watch. 



Distribution in the British Islands. — A Winter Visitor and 

 Bird of Passage o£ annual occurrence in small numbers, least 

 frequent in the western counties and Ireland. 



General Distribution. — The Great Grey Shrike breeds in 

 Europe from northern Russia and Scandinavia to the 

 Pyrenees, Alps, and Hungary, also in western Siberia to the 

 River Obi ; it is migratory in the northern portions of its 

 range, and is found farther to the south in Europe in 

 winter, but it does not appear to cross the Mediterranean. 



Allied forms inhabit southern Europe, the Canary Islands, 

 north Africa, most of Asia with the exception of the south-east, 

 and North America. Most of the forms seem to be, at any 

 rate, partially migratory, and are found in winter outside of 

 their breeding range. 



Lanius meridionalis. Southern Great Grey 

 Shrike. 



Lanius meridionalis Temminck, Man. d'Oru. i. 1820, 

 p. 143 : Provence, France. 



Lanius meridionalis Temm. ; Gadow, Cat, Birds B. M. viii. 1883, 

 p. 246 ; Nichols, British Birds, v. 1911, p. 75. 



Meridionalis = southern . 



