DENTIROSTRES.
TH E WOODCHAT SHRIKE.
INSESSORES.
LAN IA VÆ .
Lanius rutilus, The Woodchat, P enn. Brit. Zool. vol. i. p. 277.
«> >> ,, Montagu, Ornith. Diet.
,, rufus, ,, B ewick, Brit. Birds, vol. i. p. 81.
» >. ,, Selby, Brit. Ornith. v ol. i. p. 153.
>j ,, ,, J enyns, Brit. Vert. p. 96.
>> >> „ Gould, Birds of Europe, pt. ix.
,, >> Pie-grièche ruusse, Temm. Man. d’Ornith. vol. i. p. 146.
W hatever doubts might have existed formerly of the
propriety of including the Woodchat among the Shrikes that
visit England, there can be no question on this subject now,
several instances having occurred in which this bird has been
obtained.
In the British Museum there is a specimen of the Wood-
chat, a young male, which formerly belonged to the museum
of Dr. Leach, and is labelled as having been killed in Kent.
In a communication to the Magazine of Natural History*
on the British species of Shrikes, by Mr. J . D. Hoy, who
is devoted to the study of birds and their habits, that gentleman
mentions one instance of the Woodchat being killed
near Canterbury, that came to his knowledge, and another
killed in the neighbourhood of SwafFham in Norfolk, which
last bird was in the collection of the late Rev. Robert Hammond.
In a collection of birds formerly at Cambridge,
which belonged to the Rev. Francis Henson, were a male and
female Woodchat, both of which were said to have been
killed in Suffolk. From the communication of Joseph
Clarke, Esq. of Saffron Whlden, I find that Mr. Adams of
Gorlestone in Norfolk has in his collection a Woodchat shot
by himself; and a few years ago, Mr. Leadbeater received a
specimen which had been killed in Yorkshire. Lastly, Dr.
Hastings, in his Illustrations of the Natural History of Worcestershire,
says, the Woodchat is stated by Mrs. Perrot to
have appeared in the neighbourhood of Evesham.
In size, in most of its habits, and in its mode of feeding,
the Woodchat resembles the common Red-backed Shrike,
and, like that species, is said to imitate the voice of several
different small birds. Mr. Hoy says, “ it differs from
Lanius collurio in the choice of situation for its nest, placing
it invariably on trees, and preferring the oak. The nest is
fixed in the fork of a projecting branch, and is composed on the
outside of sticks and wool, mixed with white moss from the
bodies of the trees, and lined with fine grass and wool. Eggs
four or five in number, rather smaller than those of the Red-
backed Shrike, and varying much in markings ; the ground colour
being pale blue in some, in others a dirty white,, surrounded
* Vol. iv. p. 341.