OCR Text |
Show 594 MESSRS. DRESSER AND SHARPE [June 23, 4. LANIUS MERIDIONALIS. Above dark plumbeous; scapulars somewhat lighter and having the extremities white, which show a distinct white mark when contrasted with the dark grey of the upper surface of the body ; quills black, the inner web white at the base, the outer web of the primaries also white at the base, forming a small white alar bar, the secondaries tipped with white ; tail black, all but the two centre feathers tipped with white, the latter colour occupying more of each feather until the two outermost, which have the outer edge of the feather almost all white as well as the apical half of the feather ; a very narrow line of feathers along the base of the forehead, extending backwards over the eyes and forming an indistinct superciliary streak, white; loral space and ear-coverts black, the latter having the shafts rather distinct, which gives them a somewhat hoary appearance; cheeks and chin white; rest of the under surface of the body rose-colour, grey on the flanks ; vent and under wing- and tail-coverts white ; bill and feet black. Total length 9T% inches, of wing 4T 2 ir ; tail 4^^-; tarsus ly2^. The female is precisely similar to the male; but the white ends to the scapulars are not quite so broad, so that there is not such a conspicuous white patch on these parts. Our description is taken from a very fine male lent to us by Lord Lilford, who procured it in the Goto del Rey, Audalucia, in May, 1869. This species is nearly allied to Lanius algeriensis, but differs in many important characters, viz. in the total absence of white over the eye and on the forehead in the latter species, also in the alar bar being much smaller in the present bird, and in the breast being rose-coloured, whereas in L. algeriensis It is plumbeous grey. The bill of this species is much longer and more slender than in its Algerian ally. As far as our investigations have hitherto carried us, we cannot but consider that Lanius meridionalis is a species confined to the south of France, Spain, and Portugal, though ft may possibly occur along the northern portion of the Mediterranean basin. Lord Lilford, who knows the species well, assures us that he shot one specimen in Corfu (cf. also ' Ibis,' 1860, p. 135) in April 1857, where, however, it was " far from common." This specimen be no longer possesses; and although we have used the utmost exertion to obtain specimens of the true L. meridionalis shot anywhere eastward of Spain, we have been unable to procure any. Dr. Salvadori kindly informs us that the bird called L.meridionalis by him in bis 'Catalogue of the Birds of Sardinia' he has since discovered to he only L. minor in fully adult plumage; and he likewise expresses his belief that the occurrence referred to by Prince Bonaparte of a specimen of L. meridionalis in the neighbourhood of Rome is also open to question. Dr. von Heuglin doubts the occurrence of this bird in Northeastern Africa, where it has been accorded a place on the authority of Von Miiller (Journ. f. Orn. 1855, p. 409); and in this we heartily coincide with him. |