324 



V. S. p. E E. EXP, AND SURVEYS — ZOOLOGY — GENEEAL EEPOET. 



The following is a synopsis of the North American species : 



Common characters. — Color above bluish ash. Beneath white ; scapulars whitish along the 

 wing. A black patch from the bill through and behind the eye. A white patch at the base 

 of the primaries, and on the tips of the secondaries. All the tail feathers, except the median, 

 tipped with white, and with a basal patch of the same. 



A. — ^Distinctly banded beneath. Black of eye stripe interrupted below the eye by a white 

 crescent. No black at the base of the bill above. 



Above soiled light bluish ash. Upper tail coverts, forehead, and side o crown hoary. 



* G. borealis. 



B. — Uniform white (or very obsoletely banded in the young) beneath. A continuous patch 

 through the eye from the bill. A narrow frontal line of black. 



Above dark bluish slate. Forehead, sides of crown, and upper tail coverts nearly uniform 



with the back G. ludovicianiis. 



Above light bluish ash. Forehead, sides of crown, and upper tail coverts, hoary white, 

 the latter sometimes glossed with ashy G. excuhitoroides. 



Comparative measurements of species. 



COLLTEIO BOEEALIS, Baircf. 



Great Northern Shrike ; Bntcher Bird. 



Lanivs septentrionalis. Eon. Syn. 1828, 72.^Bon. List, 18,S8. — Is. Rev. et Mag. Zool. 1853, 294. — Nuttall, Man. 



I, 1832, 258.— Ib. I. 2d ed. 1840, 285. (Not of Graelin.) 

 Laniua borealis, Vieillot, Ois. Am. Sep. J, 1807, 90 ; pi. 1.— Sw. F. B. Am, II, 1831 , 111.— Aud. Syn, 1839, 157.— 



Ib. Birds Amer. IV, 1842, 130 ; pi. 236. 

 Lanius excubitor, Forster, Phil. Trans. LXII, 1772, 382.— 'Wilson, I, 1808, 74 •, pi. v. f, 1 .—Bon. Obs. 1826 — Aud. 

 Cm. Biog. It, 1834, 534 ; pi. 192. 



Sp. Ca. — Above light bluish ash, obscurely soiled with reddish brown. Forehead, sides of the crown, scapulars, and upper tail 

 coverts hoary white . Beneath white, the breast with fine transverse lines. "Wings and tail black; the former with a white 

 patch at base of primaries and tips of small quills ; the latter with the lateral feathers tipped with white. Bill bluckish brown ; 

 considerably lighter at the base. Black stripe from the bill through and behind the eye, but beneath the latter interrupted by a 

 whitish crescent. I'emoJc and young with the gray soiled with brownish . Length, 9. 85; wings, 4.50; tail, 4.80; its gradua- 

 tion .90. • 



Hob. — Northern regions from Atlantic to Pacific ; in winter south, through most of the United States. 



Upper parts of head arid body pure clear bluish ash, soiled in the slightest possible manner ; 

 changing on the rump and'Bcapulars to ashy white ; nearly pure white on the outer edge of the 

 latter, behind. Tips of upper coverts like the back. Forehead, and a stripe from the nostrils 



