18th century illustration of a great grey shrike (Lanius excubitor), a large songbird species in the shrike family (Laniidae). It forms a superspecies with its parapatric southern relatives, the Iberian grey shrike (L. meridionalis), the Chinese grey shrike (L. sphenocerus) and the loggerhead shrike (L. ludovicianus). Males and females are similar in plumage, pearly grey above with a black eye-mask and white underparts. From Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux d'Afrique (Natural History of Birds of Africa), Volume 2, by Franeois Le Vaillant (1753-1824), published in Paris, France in 1799.