Northern Shrike

SCI Name:  Lanius borealis
Protonym:  Lanius borealis Hist.Nat.Ois.Am.Sept. 1(1807) p.80 pl.50
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Laniidae / Lanius
Taxonomy Code:  norshr4
Type Locality:  North America: restricted to New York by A.O.U., 1931, ''Check-list.
Author:  Vieillot
Publish Year:  1808
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

LANIUS
(Laniidae; Ϯ Great Grey Shrike L. excubitor) L. lanius  butcher  < laniare  to tear to pieces. The shrikes were formerly known as ‘butcher-birds,’ from their habit of storing prey by impaling it on thorns and sharp twigs, giving the resemblance to a butcher’s shambles or slaughterhouse (Mod. L. Lanius (Ray 1713) shrike, butcher-bird); “I reject the compound-name of Butcher-Bird, and retain the old English name of Shrike, from the noise” (Pennant 1773). In nomenclature lanius is used in a variety of combinations for birds with stout, hooked or toothed bills or with the general appearance of a shrike; "43. LANIUS.  Rostrum rectiusculum, dente utrinque versus apicem, basi nudum.  Lingua lacera." (Linnaeus 1758); "Lanius Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., 10th ed., 1, p. 93. Type, by subsequent designation, Lanius excubitor Linnaeus (Swainson, 1824, Zool. Journ., 1 (1825), p. 294)." (Rand in Peters 1960, IX, 342). This is the fourth diagnosed genus in avian taxonomy. Linnaeus's Lanius comprised ten species (L. cristatus, L. Excubitor, L. Collurio, L. Tyrannus, L. Carnifex, L. Schach, L. Senator, L. cærulescens, L. jocosus, L. Garrulus).   
Var. Lanii, Larius.   
Synon. Caudolanius, Cephalophoneus, Collurio, Creurgus, Enneoctonus, Fiscus, Lanioides, Leucometopon, Neolanius, Neofiscus, Otomela, Phoneus.

lanius
L. lanius  butcher  < laniare  to tear to pieces.

borealis
L. borealis  northern  < boreas  north wind, north  < Gr. βορεας boreas  north wind, north. This epithet refers not only to northern latitudes but also to a distribution or range north of previously known forms.
● King George Bay, Alaska; ex “Boreal Sandpiper” of Latham 1785 (syn. Aphriza virgata).
● Carolina; ex “American Buzzard” of Latham 1781, and “Red-tailed Falcon” of Pennant 1785 (subsp. Buteo jamaicensis).
● Erroneous TL. Northern United States (= South Carolina) (Leuconotopicus).
● Erroneous TL. "Kamtschatka" (= Princes I., Java); ex “Rusty-headed Warbler” of Latham 1783 (syn. Orthotomus sepium).
● Erroneous TL. Iceland (= Norway) (subsp. Poecile montanus).

SUBSPECIES

Northern Shrike (Asian)
SCI Name: Lanius borealis [mollis Group]
LANIUS
(Laniidae; Ϯ Great Grey Shrike L. excubitor) L. lanius  butcher  < laniare  to tear to pieces. The shrikes were formerly known as ‘butcher-birds,’ from their habit of storing prey by impaling it on thorns and sharp twigs, giving the resemblance to a butcher’s shambles or slaughterhouse (Mod. L. Lanius (Ray 1713) shrike, butcher-bird); “I reject the compound-name of Butcher-Bird, and retain the old English name of Shrike, from the noise” (Pennant 1773). In nomenclature lanius is used in a variety of combinations for birds with stout, hooked or toothed bills or with the general appearance of a shrike; "43. LANIUS.  Rostrum rectiusculum, dente utrinque versus apicem, basi nudum.  Lingua lacera." (Linnaeus 1758); "Lanius Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., 10th ed., 1, p. 93. Type, by subsequent designation, Lanius excubitor Linnaeus (Swainson, 1824, Zool. Journ., 1 (1825), p. 294)." (Rand in Peters 1960, IX, 342). This is the fourth diagnosed genus in avian taxonomy. Linnaeus's Lanius comprised ten species (L. cristatus, L. Excubitor, L. Collurio, L. Tyrannus, L. Carnifex, L. Schach, L. Senator, L. cærulescens, L. jocosus, L. Garrulus).   
Var. Lanii, Larius.   
Synon. Caudolanius, Cephalophoneus, Collurio, Creurgus, Enneoctonus, Fiscus, Lanioides, Leucometopon, Neolanius, Neofiscus, Otomela, Phoneus.

Northern Shrike (American)
SCI Name: Lanius borealis borealis
borealis
L. borealis  northern  < boreas  north wind, north  < Gr. βορεας boreas  north wind, north. This epithet refers not only to northern latitudes but also to a distribution or range north of previously known forms.
● King George Bay, Alaska; ex “Boreal Sandpiper” of Latham 1785 (syn. Aphriza virgata).
● Carolina; ex “American Buzzard” of Latham 1781, and “Red-tailed Falcon” of Pennant 1785 (subsp. Buteo jamaicensis).
● Erroneous TL. Northern United States (= South Carolina) (Leuconotopicus).
● Erroneous TL. "Kamtschatka" (= Princes I., Java); ex “Rusty-headed Warbler” of Latham 1783 (syn. Orthotomus sepium).
● Erroneous TL. Iceland (= Norway) (subsp. Poecile montanus).