food, are frequently observed fixed on thorns in the vicinity
of their nests. Mr. Blyth has observed, that where
food is abundant, this Shrike leaves the body and hard parts
of insects thus impaled, and only eats the softer abdomen.
Portions of fur or feathers, and other indigestible parts, when
swallowed, are afterwards ejected at the mouth by the Shrikes
in the same manner as by Falcons and Owls.
The nest made by this species is very largfe in proportion
to the size of the bird, frequently measuring from six to seven
inches diameter; it is usually placed rather high in a strong
hedge or thick bush ; the nest, shaped like a cup, is generally
formed of coarse stalks of plants on the outside, with
some moss and fibrous roots within, and lined with bents and
a few hairs. The eggs are four or five in number, about
eleven lines long by eight lines in breadth, generally, uniform
in size, but very variable in colour, sometimes pale bluish
white, spotted with hair-brown and ash-grey, the spots confined
to the larger end of the egg, and frequently forming
a band ; occasionally they are found of a greenish white, with
darker spots ; and in many instances the eggs are pale reddish
white, spotted with two shades of darker red and reddish
brown.— Three eggs are exceedingly well represented in Mr.
W . C. Hewitson’s work.
The parent birds are clamorous over their young brood,
and the little family keep together as long as they remain in
this country.
The Red-backed Shrike is common about London, and in
most, if not all, the southern and western counties of England
and Wales, going northward from thence as far as Cumberland
; but there, as observed by Dr. Heysham, it is rare.
I t has not, I believe, been observed by Ornithologists in any
part of Ireland. North of London, on the east coast, it
is found in Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, and Yorkshire; but occasionally
only as far north as Northumberland and the
south-eastern part of Durham. It has not, that I am aware,
been noticed in Scotland or its islands ; yet it visits Denmark,
Norway, Sweden, and Russia. From thence southward,
it is found in Germany, France, Spain, Provence, and
Italy. Specimens were sent by Keith Abbott, Esq. to the
Zoological Society from Trebizond; it also inhabits Egypt
and North Africa, is included by Le Vaillant among the
birds of Senegal and the Cape of Good Hope, from which
latter country specimens have also been recently brought by
Dr. Smith.
The adult male has a beak of shining black, with a conspicuous
tooth and notch near the point of the upper mandible,
which is curved; the feathers at the base of the beak,
those of the lore, around'the eye, and those forming the ear-
coverts, black; the irides hazel brown ; all the upper part of
the head and the neck grey; back and wing-coverts fine chesnut
red ; upper tail-coverts grey, tinged with re d ; wing-primaries
dusky black, edged with red on the outer web ; secondaries
and tertials the same, but with broader red margins; upper
surface of the tail-feathers with the proximal half white, the
distal half black, just tipped with white; the shafts black ; the
two middle tail-feathers, which are the longest, are wholly
black except the tips, which are white; the outer tail-feather
on each side about three-eighths of an inch shorter than the
others. The chin is nearly white ; all the under surface of
the body very pale re d ; under tad-coverts white; under surface
of the tail-feathers like the upper surface, but the colours
less pure ; legs, toes, and claws, black. The length of the
adult male is about seven inches and a half; length of wing
from the carpal joint to the end of the longest feather, three
inches and seven-eighths ; the first feather of the wing less
than half the length of the second, the second nearly as long
as the fourth, the third feather the longest in the wing.
The adult female has the beak dark brown ; irides hazel,