The Scottish Naturalist. 255 



flew from tree to tree, generally alighting near the ground, and 

 rapidly making their way to the top, sometimes in cork-screw 

 fashion, and other times in a zigzag manner. This is highly 

 interesting, as being the first notice I have ever had of these 

 birds being found in Perthshire. There having been no further 

 occurrence of their visits, however, to the district, they can only 

 be considered as purely accidental. 



^'i^. YuNX TORQUILLA, Linn. (Wryneck.) 

 For observations on this bird, see 'Scot. Nat.,' Oct. 1878, 



P- ZZ^' 



( To be conttmied). 



NOTES ON BIRDS THAT HAVE OCCURRED NEAR 

 STANLEY, IN PERTHSHIRE. 



By THOMAS MARSHALL. 



IN drawing up the present list of birds, I have not confined 

 myself strictly to Stanley, but have included those found 

 within three or four miles of the village. I may also state that a 

 few, although rare in the district, are by no means uncommon 

 on the sea-coast, and come inland at rare intervals. 



Business keeps me pretty much indoors, so that I have not 

 the opportunity of devoting so much time to the study of ornith- 

 ology as I should like ; but I have no doubt that, with more 

 observers, a good many birds, rarely seen, or entirely unknown, 

 in the neighbourhood, might be observed and recorded. 



I. Great Grey Shrike {La?iius exaibito?-, L.) — This bird is 

 not common anywhere in this country. It has been observed in 

 all the EngUsh counties — in some of them several times ; it is 

 also reported from a good many of the Scottish counties ; and it 

 has occurred, in a few instances, in Ireland. With us it is a 

 winter visitor, but in no well-authenticated instance is it known 

 to have bred in Britain. 



The Great Grey Shrike feeds on small birds, mice, frogs, and 

 insects. After killing its prey, it has a curious habit of hanging 

 up the body in a forked branch, or impaling it on a sharp thorn : 

 it is named the Butcher-bird from this strange habit of hanging 

 up its food. In January 1877 a male was shot in Colon wood ; 

 and a month later, a female was got near the Stormontfield 

 ponds. 



