LANIUS. 213 



Some confusion exists regarding this bird, owing to its being subject to some variation 

 in Costa Rica, two (and even three) species having been stated to be found in that country. 

 The amount of yellow on the belly varies considerably in different individuals ; those in 

 which the white of the underparts is most restricted have been called C.flaviventris, 

 and considered the same as the Mexican bird. Those with more white beneath are 

 C. subflavescens, whilst those in which the white extends to the chest have been considered 

 inseparable from C. flavipectus, the species of Colombia, Venezuela, &c. Finding all 

 these forms in Costa Rica, we do not see how any separation can be made ; we therefore 

 call them by Mr. Sclater's name, it being the oldest. ' The differences of size and colour 

 alluded to by Prof. Cabanis in his original description, and commented upon by Prof. 

 Baird, we do not see confirmed in the series before us. It must be noted, however, that 

 the true C.flaviventris does not occur in Costa Rica, as all specimens from that country 

 have the lower belly white. 



C. flavipectus, though not uncommon in Costa Rica, does not appear to be found in 

 the State of Panama, except in the neighbourhood of Chiriqui. Absent from -the 

 isthmus itself, it reappears at Santa Marta and near Bogota, in Colombia, and again in 

 Venezuela and Trinidad, whence Mr. Sclater's types of the species were obtained^. 



Pam. LANIID-ai*. 



LANIUS. 



Lanius, Linnseus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 134 (1766). 



The genus Lanius is far more strongly developed in the Old World than in the New, 

 where only two well defined species occur in the Nearctic Region, one of them extending 

 its range over the whole of Mexico. In the Old World the range of Lanius and its 

 close allies includes the Palaearctic, Indian, and Ethiopian ^Regions, the Australian 

 alone being outside its limits. 



The strong raptorial bill of Lanius distinguishes it from most of the Passerine birds. 

 This is used for the capture and destruction of small birds and the larger kinds of 

 insects, and is strongly notched near the curved and pointed end of the mandible. The 

 feet, though strong, are like those of ordinary Passeres ; the tarsus is longer than the 

 middle toe, the lateral toes being nearly equal. 



1. Lanius ludovicianus. 



Lanius ludovicianus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 134' ; Bp. P. Z. S. 1837, p. 112'. 



Collyrio ludovicianus, Dresser, Ibis, 1865, p. 480 \ 



Collurio ludovicianus, Baird, Rev. Am. B. i. p. 443 * ; Baird, Brew. & Ridgvr. N. Am. B. i. p. 418 '. 



Lanius excubitorides, Sw. Faun. Bor,-Am. ii. p. 115, t. 34 " ; Scl. P. Z. S. 1864, p. 173 '. 



* See anted,, p. 185. 



