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above, having carefully verified it by comparison with the specimen in question, and I have been 

 able, thanks to the courtesy of Mr. Pleske, to examine three specimens of the eastern form from 

 Dzungaria and Mongolia, but it will be necessary to examine a much larger series to be in a 

 position to state definitely whether these two forms are really specifically separable. Judging, 

 however, from a specimen in the collection of Mr. Seebohm from Ferghana (Turkestan) I am 

 still doubtful on the subject. This specimen, a female, is adult or nearly adult, and has the 

 upper and under tail-coverts neither vermiculated nor marked on the upper tail-coverts with the 

 broad black band which appears to be the chief characteristic of Prof. Menzbier's Lanius funereus, 

 which is, he says, the form which inhabits Turkestan ; and thus agrees much more closely with 

 the Mongolian form — that is, true Lanius mollis. On the other hand, the three specimens of this 

 Mongolian or eastern form which I have examined all agree with Prof. Menzbier's diagnosis of 

 that form, and have no trace of the black band on the upper tail-coverts ; and I have therefore 

 deemed it preferable to recognize the eastern and western forms as subspecifically separable, and 

 have consequently adopted Prof. Menzbier's name for the western form. 



Of the specimens I have examined the darkest is the one figured on Plate 667, which is 

 the one for the loan of which I am indebted to Mr. Pleske. 



Specimen a in Mr. Seebohm's collection is the young male above described and figured on 

 Plate 666. It has the upper tail-coverts finely, though somewhat sparsely, vermiculated, and 

 the under tail-coverts are also vermiculated, though much more sparsely. Specimen b in the 

 same collection is evidently a much older, and probably a fully adult bird : it is greyer on the 

 upper parts and less tinged with rufous buff than specimen a ; the ear-coverts are much blacker, 

 and the secondaries are but narrowly tipped with white ; there is less white on the tail, though 

 not so little as in the specimen from the Lepsa River, and the upper and under tail-coverts are 

 plain, neither vermiculated nor tipped with black. 



The specimens figured are — on Plate 666 a young male, specimen a, in Mr. Seebohm's 

 collection, which is also the bird above described ; and on Plate 667 the old female from the 

 Lepsa River, which is also the adult female above described. The description of the adult male 

 is taken from Prof. Menzbier's type of Lanius funereus. 



In the preparation of the above article I have examined the following specimens :— 



E Mus. H. Seebohm. 

 a, (J. Mountains near Lake Korogol, September 5th ; b, ? . Ferghana, March 3rd, 1882 (Dr. Severtzoff). 



E Mus. Petrop. 

 a, $ ad. Lepsa River, September 1844 (Karelin). 



E Mus. Moskov. 



a, d . Ulugchat, Kashgaria (Wilkins). 



