GREAT GREY SHRIKE. 163 
being a strong distinctive character between that bird 
and his L. excubitoroides. If it is the only one, and he 
only adduces the additional characteristic of ‘a darker 
slate,” then it is quite certain that my supposition is 
right. The description of M. Temminck of his ZL. 
meridionalis is (with the exception of the four middle 
tail feathers being quite black instead of two) precisely 
corresponding to the figure gwen by Swainson in the 
“Fauna,” as above quoted. ‘The white mark above the 
eye is not mentioned in the second edition of the 
“Manual,” but it is im the third. Temminck gives 
the length of ZL. meridionalis nine inches, Degland ten. 
Swainson is most accurate in his dimensions, and gives 
the length of his bird nine inches and a half. 
Wilson also says of ZL. Carolinensis that it inhabits 
the warmer parts only of the United States, as the 
rice plantations of Georgia and Carolina. 
In the observations above it will be seen that Tem- 
minck says L. meridionalis only inhabits the countries 
of the South of Europe. The following is_ his 
description of this bird:— 
Adult male. The head, nape, mantle, and back of 
a very dark ash-colour; a large black band below the 
eyes, covering the orifice of the ears; throat of a vinous 
white. All the lower parts of a rather vinous ash- 
colour, of which the tints are shaded upon the flanks 
and thighs into a more pure and darker ash-colour. 
Origin of primaries and tip of secondaries of a pure 
white; four middle quills of the tail quite black, the 
others as in excubitor. 
Adult female. Upper part of the body of a dark 
ash-colour, but always less pure than that of the male; 
the under parts more shaded with ash-colour, and 
variegated with dark crescented marks, which terminate 
