165 



the Canaries, and one from Muscat in the British Museum has the lesser wing-coverts entirely 

 grey. Specimens from the Canaries have a shorter wing than those from other localities, the 

 length averaging only about 3 - 85 to 3 - 9 inches. Lanius uncinatus, from Socotra, is at best a 

 very doubtful species, differing from typical L. fallax merely in having a somewhat stouter and 

 more hooked bill ; but there are a good many intermediate specimens, and I have no hesitation 

 in uniting this form with L. fallax. 



Specimens of Lanius fallax from Palestine agree closely with dark examples from the 

 Canaries and with Abyssinian specimens, but as a rule they have more black and less grey on 

 the lesser wing-coverts, and in that respect approach more nearly to Lanius lahtora, from which, 

 however, this form is distinguishable by its darker colour, grey underparts, and darker inner 

 webs to the secondaries. 



In the British Museum Catalogue, Lanius pallidirostris, Cassin (Proc. Ac. Nat. Sci. 

 Philad. 1851, p. 244), Lanius aucheri, Bp. (Rev. et Mag. de Zool. 1853, p. 294), and Lanius 

 •pollens (Rev. et Mag. de Zool. 1853, p. 433), the last given in error as Lanius pallidus, De Fil., 

 are included in the synonymy of this Shrike ; but this appears to me to be erroneous. Cassin's 

 description of L. pallidirostris does not in any respect agree with L. fallax, but much better 

 with L. elegans, as he describes it as being paler than L. excubitor, with much white on 

 the wings, and with the underparts white with a rose tinge ; Lanius pattens is mentioned in 

 a footnote at the page in the Rev. et Mag. de Zool. above cited as L. pattens, Riipp., without 

 any description, and I cannot find it described in any of Ruppell's works ; Lanius aucheri is 

 described by Bonaparte as resembling L. lahtora, but intermediate between L. lahtora and 

 L. excubitor, though duller, and without any white on the back, the tail longer, the feathers 

 narrower, the tail and wings with less white on them, and the secondaries short. This descrip- 

 tion may or may not refer to L. fallax, but is too vague to enable anyone to say to whicii 

 species it refers, and should therefore be expunged from the synonymy of the present species. 

 The upper figure on Plate 146 in the ' Birds of Europe ' is referable to the present species, 

 and I have not deemed it necessary to give an illustration of it now, as the distinctions are 

 more easily described than shown on a plate. 



The specimen described is in my own collection. 



Besides the series in the British Museum I have, in the preparation of the above article, 

 examined the following specimens : — 



E Mus. H. K Dresser. 



a, g. Gennesareth, March 9th, 1864; b, $. Gennesareth, March 8th, 1864 (H. B. Tristram), c. Fuerte- 

 veutura, Canaries, March 1889 (Dr. Percy Kendall). 



