BIRDS OF NORTH AKD MIDDLE AMERICA. 235 



more or less vermiculated, or "waved," with narrow dusky bars; 

 wing-coverts tipped with dull light buffy. 



Nidification. — Nest bulky, placed in thornj' trees or shrubs or 

 among thick growth of vines, open above, composed of twigs, weed- 

 stalks, grass-stems, etc., lined with wool or feathers. EggS 4-Y, 

 whitish, densely speckled with brown or olive. 



Mange. — Entire Nearctic and Palaearctic Regions, together with 

 portions of the African and Indo-Malayan Regions; chiefly developed 

 in the Eastern Hemisphere, the Western possessing only two species. 



KEY TO THE SPBCIES AND SUBSPECIES OF LANIUS. 



a. Exposed culmen longer than middle toe without claw; wing not less than 110, « 



usually much more; lores and nasal tufts never wholly black, sometimes 



without any black. 



h. A more or less obvious whitish mark on lower eyelid; adults with chest and 



sides of breast more or less distinctly vermiculated with grayish or dusky. 



(Northern North America, southward in winter over greater part of United 



States. ) Lauius borealis (p. 237) 



hb. No whitish mark on lower eyelid; adults without vermiculations on chest, etc. 



(Northern Asia and Europe. ) Lanina aibirioua (extralimital) 6 



aa. Exposed culmen shorter than middle toe without claw; wing not more than 106 



(usually much less); lores and nasal tufts wholly black in adults. (Lanius 



ludovicianus.) 



b. More white on tail, the outermost rectrix with much less than one-third its 



sub-basal portion black (this usually mostly concealed by under tail-coverts). 



c. Tail averaging decidedly longer than wing (wing averaging 95.1, tail 99, in 



adult male) ; bill larger and more strongly uncinate, the exposed culmen 



averaging 16; under parts more purely and uniformly white. (South 



Atlantic and Gulf States. ) Lauius ludoviciauus ludovioiauus (p. 241) 



«If the wing measures less than 110 mm., as may sometimes be the case in imma- 

 ture birds, the other characters mentioned, and also the conspicuously vermiculated 

 under parts and more brownish upper parts, will serve readily to distinguish the 

 species from any of the forms of L. ludoinciatius. 



i Lanius borealis Vieillot, Ois. Am. Sept., i, 1807, 80, part (e. Siberia). -r--Zkmms 

 major (not of Wilkes, 1812) Pallas, Zoogr. Eosso-Asiat., i, 1826, 402 (northern 

 Russia; Siberia). — Seebohm, Hist. Brit. Birds, i, 1883, 595 (Scotland and England; 

 rare winter visitant) . — Cabanis, Journ. fiir Orn., 1873, 75 (crit.). — Schalow, Journ. 

 fiir Orn., 1875, 232 (crit.), 346 (northern Europe); 1876, 132, 232 (German locali- 

 ties); Bericht. iiber die xxi, Versimml. deutsch. Orn. Gesellsch., 1875, 13, 14. — 

 Tschusi von Schmidhofen, Journ. fiir Orn., 1878, 96. — Stejneger, Orn. Centralbl., 

 1878, 108.— CoUett, Archiv. for Math, og Naturvidensk., 1878, 180-185 (crit.).— 

 Gadow, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., viii, 1883, 239. — {'!)L[anius'\ major Schalow, Auk, i, 

 1884, 292, in text (near mouth of Ghilcat R., Alaska). — L[anius'] excubitor, forma 

 major, Collett, Ibis, Jan., 1886, 40 (crit.); Archiv. for Math, og Naturvidensk., 1893, 

 60 (crit.). — Lanius excubitor (not of Linnaeus) Meves, Ofv. k. Vet.-Ak. Porh., 1871, 

 762.— Nordmann, Demid. Voy., ii, 1839, 113.— Middendorff, Sibir. Reise, ii, 1853, 

 188. — Lanius borealis sibiricus Bogdanbw, Russian Shrikes, etc., 1881, 102. — L[amMs] 

 borealis gibiricus Ridgway, Man. N. Am. Birds, 1887, 466. — Lanius sihiricus Stejneger, 

 Proc. TJ. S. Nat. Mus., xvi, no. 931, June 6, 1893, 217, 218 (Askold, e. Siberia; 

 Yesso, Japan; crit.). — Lanius borealis europaeus Bogdanow, Russian Shrikes, etc., 

 1881, 105.— Lanius lahtora (not of Sykes) David and Oustalet, Ois. Chine, 1877, 93. 



This form is introduced into the "key" on account of its alleged (and possible) 

 occurrence in Alaska. 



