112 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



the ditch. In Scotland I have found the nests and eggs of the Willow 

 Warbler in the boughs of a young fir tree, about eighteen inches from the 

 ground, and in a hole in a wall more than two feet from the ground. Also 

 the nest of the Common Wren among the slender topmost twigs of a 

 young hawthorn bush, about eight feet from the ground. — Robert 

 H. Read. 



Curlews Migrating. — While standing in the garden here, on the 

 morning of the 18th January last, I heard a familiar cry overhead, and on 

 looking up saw a couple of Curlews, Numenius arquata, flying towards the 

 north. I have never noticed these birds about here before, but there had 

 been a strong gale blowing the previous day, which may account for their 

 presence. — Horace Terry (Burvale, Walton-on Thames). 



Further remarks upon Grey Shrikes. — While thanking Mr. J. 

 Backhouse for his remarks (Zool. 1891, p. 310) on this subject, I should 

 like to point out that the object of my notes and enquiries (Zool. 1890, 

 p. 27 ; 1891, p. 187) was not the determination of the specific or non- 

 specific character of Lanius major. This question seems to me to be 

 settled. L. major interbreeds with L. excubitor, and intermediate forms 

 are found ; it can therefore only be considered as a local race, or a sub- 

 species at the most. A very fit case for a trinomial in fact. Mr. 

 Backhouse's notes seem to confirm ray view, previously expressed (Zool. 

 1890, p. 27), that the specimens of L. major procured in Britain do not 

 (usually at all events) agree with the description of the adult given in the 

 books, since he, like myself, " has no recollection of having seen a specimen 

 with a white rump." Our experience as to the darker coloration of the 

 upper parts generally of this form (than of L. excubitor) also agrees. 

 Prof. R. Collett has noted that in a female L. major rather darker than her 

 mate (L. excubitor) the rump was "very little lighter than the back," and 

 the pure bred L. excubitor to which it was paired had a rump very nearly 

 pure white" ('Ibis,' 1886, p. 30). Also, Mr. F. B. Whitlock has kindly 

 written me word of a Pallas' Shrike with " not the slightest trace of white 

 on the secondaries," procured near Nottingham recently, in which the 

 rump and upper tail-coverts are certainly nothing approaching white ; the 

 whole bird is rather smoky, and perhaps these parts are a trifle paler than 

 the back." With regard to this point I feel confirmed by the further 

 observations and enquires which I have been able to make in the view I 

 have been inclined to take for some time (and have previously expressed), 

 viz. that L. major (usually at all events) has a grey, and not a white, rump. 

 I cannot quite follow Mr. Backhouse when he writes of a specimen, 

 examined by him, which he supposes might be a hybrid between L. major 

 and L. homeyeri. Such a hybrid, if it existed, would surely differ little 

 from the typical L. excubitor; since L, homeyeri (itself an intermediate 



