Scientific name: Lanius meridionalis Temminck 1820
Bird group: Shrikes
Field characters. 24 cm. Upperparts darker than Great Grey Shrike; underparts pink-grey. White supercilium narrower; face-mask further behind eye but black stripe on lore narrower; white patch on base of primaries reduced and absent on secondaries. All in all more resembles Lesser Grey Shrike, but with shorter wings (folded wing-point about 3/4 of length of tertials), narrower wingbar, and less white on sides of tail. Upperparts of juvenile are duller grey than adult's; white bar on forehead much reduced; underparts pale buffish-pink but side of breast, and lower flank dark grey.
Voice. Call like Great Grey Shrike; song a single or double note.
Distribution. Range extends from N Africa to central Asia and India; in Europe restricted to the Iberian peninsula and French Mediterranean coast (where distributions of Great Grey Shrike and Southern Grey Shrike are separated by a gap of less than 30 km).
Habitat. Steppe, maquis, and semi-desert; dry fields and arable land with scattered trees or hedgerows.
Food. Habits and food as in Great Grey Shrike.