LANIITS LEUCOPTEEUS. 



(WHITE-WINGED SHRIKE.) 



Lanius leucojtterus, Severtzoff, Turk. Jevotnie, p. 67 (1873). 



Lanius przewalskii, Bogdanoff, Sorokop. Kussk. Faun. p. 147 (1881). 



Lanius excubitor, var. przewalskii, Radde & Walter, Vog. Transcasp. p. 68 (1888). 



Lanius homeyeri, Sharpe, Second Yark. Mission, p. 70 (1891, partim). 



Figura unica. 

 Bogdanoff, Sorokoputui Busskoi Faunui, pi. iii. fig. 2. 



Ad. L. excubitori similis, sed corpore supra pallidiore : alis magis albo notatis, secundariis nonnullis in pogonio 

 interno pure albis : seapularibus, uropygio imo et supracaudalibus albis : rectricibus duabus externis 

 utrinque pure albis et corpore subtus toto albo. 



Adult Female (Lake Kaplan-kul, Nov. 25th). Upper parts pale French grey, much paler than in L. excubitor; 

 forehead, lores (except a small spot in front of the eye which is black), and a broad superciliary stripe 

 pure white ; primaries and secondaries white on the basal two-thirds, forming a large white alar patch ; 

 the secondaries very white on the inner web, some having the inner web pure white, and all tipped 

 with white ; scapulars, lower rump, and upper tail-coverts white ; basal portion of the tail white, the 

 two outer rectrices on each side pure white, the third with very little black, the fourth and fifth black 

 broadly tipped with white, the two middle feathers black except at the base ; ear-coverts and a small 

 spot in front of the eye black ; chin, throat, and underparts pure white : upper mandible horny hlack, 

 lower mandible pale at the base, becoming dark horn towards the tip ; legs black ; iris dark brown. 

 Total length about 9'5 inches, culmen 09, wing 4"55, tail 4 - 5, tarsus 1-05. 



Adult Male (Lake Kaplan-kul, Nov. 5th) . Closely resembles the female, but rather larger in size, viz. : 

 culmen - 9, wing 4*7, tail 4 - 75, tarsus 1*1. 



Obs. The hest character by which the present species can always be separated is the large amount of white 

 on the secondaries, some of which invariably have the entire inner web white, which is never the case 

 even in very pale examples of Lanius excubitor. In this respect, however, there are individual 

 variations, and the specimen in the British Museum has the innermost secondaries white. 



Tills extreme form of Lanius excubitor occurs from Transcaspia to Eastern Turkestan and north 

 to Krasnoyarsk. 



Mr. Zarudny observed, but did not obtain, White-winged Shrikes, doubtless the present 

 species, between Kulkulais and the Soumbar in the summer of 1884, and again in September 

 1886, between the Soumbar and the village of Noukhour ; and Messrs. Radde and Walter (Vog. 

 Transcasp. p. 68) obtained an old female, which was, they say, a typical Lanius leucopterus, near 

 Askabad on the 7th of March, 1886. Severtzoff records it as found in Turkestan during passage, 



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