LANIUS FALLAX. 



(FINSCH'S GREY SHRIKE.) 



Lanius meridionalis, Tristram, Ibis, 1862, p. 279 (nee Temm.). 

 Lanius excubitor, Tristram, Ibis, 1867, p. 364 (nee Linn.). 

 Lanius lahtora, Heuglin, Orn. N.O.-Afr. i. p. 483 (1871, nee Sykes). 

 Lanius fallax, Finsch, Trans. Zool. Soc. vii. p. 249, pi. xxv. (1872). 

 Lanius lahtora, Sharpe & Dresser, B. of Eur. iii. p. 381 (1872, partim). 

 Lanius uncinatus, Sclater & Hartlaub, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1881, p. 168. 

 Lanius algeriensis, Meade-Waldo, Ibis, 1889, p. 10 (nee Linn.). 



Abou seround, Booras, Arabic (fide Tristram). 



Figura notabiles. 



Finsch, Trans. Zool. Soc. vii. pi. xxv. ; Sharpe & Dresser, B. of Eur. iii. pi. 146 (upper 

 figure). 



Ad. corpore supra saturatiore, subtiis albido-cinereo, hypochondriis cinereis : uropygic- et supracaudalibus 

 saturate cinereo-canis dorso concoloribus : scapularibus vix albido apicatis : plaga alari minore : 

 secundariis nigris, in pogonio interno albo marginatis et albo apicatis : tectricibus alarum minoribus 

 nigris vix cinereo notatis : rectrice extima in pogonio externo alba et in pogonio interno nig^a, 

 conspicue albo apicata, sequentibus minus albo apicatis et rectricibus centralibus omnino r:gjis : 

 remigibus secundariis in pogonio interno fere nigricantibus : rostro, pedibus et iride sicut in L. elegante 

 picturatis. 



Adult Male (Gennesareth, March 9th). Diffei's from Lanius elegans in having the upper parts of a darker 

 grey, the underparts greyish white, the flanks grey ; rump and upper tail-coverts grey like the back ; 

 scapulars grey, slightly tipped with white, alar patch small; secondaries black, margined with white on 

 the inner web, and tipped with white ; lesser wing-coverts black, slightly intermixed with grey ; outer- 

 most tail-feather with the outer web white and the inner web black broadly tipped with white, the 

 following ones with less white, and the central ones entirely black ; inner webs of the secondaries 

 chiefly blackish ; soft parts as in L. elegans. Total length about 9 inches, culmen - 85, wing 4*25, 

 tail 4 - 3, tarsus l - 25. 



The present form is found in the Canary Islands, in N.E. Africa (so far as we at present know) 

 east of the Nile, in Palestine and Mesopotamia, and eastward to Baluchistan and probably also as 

 far as the Deccan, but this apparently interrupted distribution will probably be found hereafter 

 to be erroneous. 



In the Canary Islands it is found commonly in Fuerteventura, and also occurs on all the 

 otber islands of this group. According to Mr. Meade-Waldo (Ibis, 1890, p. 430) the distribution 

 in Teneriffe is rather peculiar. It frequents the hot Euphorbia-covered slopes close to the sea 

 on the south side of the island ; it is almost equally common and resident all the year on the 



