NOTES AND QUERIES. J 87 



The books alluded to by Mr. James were copies of Morris's ' British Birds,' 

 distributed some years ago among the light-keepers, at the request of some 

 members of the British Association Committee on the migration of birds. 

 This rarity has been beautifully set up by Mr. Williams, bird-stuffer, Dame 

 Street, Dublin, and is now in my collection. — Richard M. Barrington 

 (Fassaroe, Bray, Co. Wicklow). 



The Coloration of Pallas's Shrike. — I have been hoping that my 

 note on the colours of Pallas's Shrike, Lanius major ('Zoologist, 1890, p. 

 27), would have elicited some replies from ornithologists well acquainted 

 with the bird. I have for a long time noticed with regret how seldom a 

 note or query in ■ The Zoologist ' is responded to. or commented upon, in 

 any way by other naturalists. A little more discussion of doubtful points 

 would surely often be desirable ; and if the leaders in the science of 

 Ornithology would occasionally vouchsafe, to less experienced readers, a 

 little information upon the poiuts raised, it would, I am sure, be greatly 

 appreciated. I believe, also, that a good deal more criticism than we see 

 now would be extremely beneficial in ornithological subjects. As the matter 

 stands at present, if Pallas's Shrike is to continue to be considered a definite 

 species or sub-species occurring in England, the description of its colours, 

 as set forth in books, is by no means on a satisfactory footing. Five plain 

 statements relating to the Grey Shrikes occurring in England are to be 

 found in the books, viz. : — (i.) Lanius excubitor, even as a fledgling, has the 

 two white wing-bars well developed, i. e., it has, even at that early age, 

 a considerable amount of white on the secondaries. (ii.) L. excubitor has 

 a grey rump and upper tail-coverts, (iii.) The adult L. major has no 

 white on the secondaries, (iv.) L. major has a pure white rump, (v.) L. 

 major is lined on the lower parts at all ages. Now, bearing these stated 

 facts in mind, I should like to ask to what species or form does a bird 

 belong which has hardly a trace of white at the base of the secondaries 

 (indeed roughly it would be said to have none) ; not at all strongly marked 

 with lines underneath; extremely faint or no signs on the head and back 

 of the brownish cast, which seems to indicate immaturity in Grey Shrikes ; 

 and a rump as dark as its rather dark grey back [vide Zool. 1890, p. 28)? 

 I should like, also, to ask if any of your readers are possessed of specimens 

 of an adult British-killed Pallas's Shrike in the plumage in which it has 

 been described, viz., with no white at the bases of the secondaries, and a 

 pure white rump ? The only possible solution seems to be that the bird 

 described by me is a young Pallas's Shrike ; but its plumage in other 

 respects does not bear out this idea. If it is a young bird, I may say that 

 in the volume of the British Museum Catalogue which includes the Shrikes 

 it is not stated that this form or sub-species of Grey Shrike has, when in 

 immature plumage, a grey rump and upper tail-coverts. — 0. V. Aplin 

 (Bloxham, Banbury, Oxon). 



