LESSER GREY SHRIKE. 603 



LANIUS MINOR. 

 LESSER GREY SHRIKE. 



(Plate 11.) 



Lanius aurioulatus, 3Iiill. Syst. Nat. Suppl. p. 71 (1766). 



Lanius cinereus medius, Gerin. Orn. Meth. Diy. i. p. 73, pi. liv. (1767). 



Lanius minor, Gnu^l Syst. Nat. i. p. 308 (1788) ; et auctorum plurimorum — 



Naumann, Temminck, Bonaparte, Degland, Gerbe, Newton, Dresser, Boydanow, 



&c. 

 Lanius italicus, Lath. Ind. Orn. i. p. 71 (1790). 

 Lanius vigil, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. i. p. 403 (1826). 

 Lanius longipennis, Blyth, Joui-n. As. iSoc. Beng. xv. 1846, p. 300. 

 Enneoctonus italicus (Lath.), Bonap. Rev. et May. de Zool. 1S53, p. 438. 

 Lanius roseus, Bailly, Orn. de la Sav. ii. p. 20 (1853). 

 Enneoctonus minor (Gmel.), Gray, Iland-l. B. i. p. 393 (1800). 



The Lesser Grey Shrike can only be considered a very accidental 

 straggler to the British Islands^ only four examples of this bird having 

 been recorded. The first specimen, a female, was killed during the first 

 week in November 1851, at St. Mary's, on the Seilly Islands. It was 

 recorded in the ' Zoologist ' for that year (p. 3300) as an example of the 

 Great Grey Shrike by ^Ir. E. H. Rodd, who afterwards sent it to Mr. 

 Gould, who corrected the error in its identification. The second specimen 

 was forwarded to Mr. ^Murray A. Mathew from the immediate neighbour- 

 hood of Great Yarmouth. It was obtained early in the spring of 1869, 

 and recorded by that gentleman in the 'Zoologist' for the year 1870 

 (p. 2060). The third example, a male, is recorded by ]Mr. Stevenson in 

 the 'Zoologist' for 1875 (p. 4633). It was caught alive in a greenhouse 

 near Great Yarmouth, in the same locality as the last-named specimen, 

 during the last week of May 1875. On the 2nd of June it was brought 

 to ]\Ir. Stevenson in the flesh, ha^ang died in the cage in which its captors 

 had placed it. It is now in the collection of Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun. Lastly, 

 Mr. J. Gatcombe recorded in the 'Zoologist' for 1876 (p. 5178) a fourth 

 specimen, caught alive in the neighbourhood of Plymouth. It was obtained 

 by a birdcatcher, and was brought to a Mr. Peacock, a local bird-preserver, 

 who was under the impression that it was an example of the Great Grey 



Shrike. 



The Lesser Grey Shrike breeds in Eastern France, Germany, Switzer- 

 land, Italy, South Russia (up to lat. 57°), Austria, Turkey, Asia Minor, 

 Palestine, Turkestan, Persia, and South-western Siberia (as far north as 

 Omsk in lat. 57°, and as far east as Lake Zaisan, in long. 84°). On 

 migration it has occasionally occurred in South Sweden, Holland, Den- 



