of the Common Shrike. 369 



places where magpies are abundant, a pair generally locate 

 themselves close to every farmyard ; but these, if unmolested, 

 are never known to attack its inmates. If a duckling or a 

 chick be missing, and the depredator (as is often the case) be 

 a magpie, that sinner is sure to be one from a distant nest : 

 the pair close at hand are always quite innocent of the charge ; 

 and this is a fact very well known to many farmers. But, 

 only take the eggs, or the young of the pair that have thus 

 confided themselves to your protection, and your own fowls 

 will be sure to suffer for it. When the magpies are deprived 

 of their progeny, they will no longer range far and wide for 

 their food, but will prey close at home till they recommence 

 the labour of nidification. 



All this, perhaps, may appear very strange to those who 

 have little practical knowledge of ornithology ; but it is never- 

 theless a decided fact; and, as none of the instincts or ways of 

 animals are ever without a purpose, the reason of this appears 

 to be (though, of course, I do not give the birds credit for 

 knowing it), that the prey, which is always at hand, is thus 

 preserved against a time of scarcity, or is still always obtain- 

 able, should sickness or any accident disable the preyer from 

 seeking its subsistence elsewhere. 



I have generally found the red-backed shrike to nidificate 

 in large bushes of maple or hawthorn, sometimes in a sloe 

 bush : the nest varies considerably in neatness of construction, 

 but is always easily enough distinguishable from that of any 

 other British bird. A very fine one, now before me, is exter- 

 nally composed of the dry stems of plants, compactly worked 

 together with a little moss and some soft feathers, and is very 

 beautifully lined with small fibrous roots, and a few soft downy 

 feathers. They usually lay five or six eggs, of about the size 

 of those of the skylark ; but these vary in appearance very con- 

 siderably, both in size and colour, in markings and in shape. 

 Those of the same nest are generally pretty much alike ; but I 

 never saw specimens from different nests which much resem- 

 bled each other. Some of them are very oblong, others are as 

 round as a hawk's ; some are of a clear, others of a brownish, 

 greenish, or reddish white ; most have a zone of spots at the 

 large end, a few have it at the smaller, some round the middle, 

 and others have no zone at all ; sometimes they are much 

 speckled, sometimes very little, sometimes the spots are large, 

 amounting to blotches, sometimes small ; most have the spots 

 of two different colours, ash-coloured and rufous, whilst some 

 have them only of the latter hue. I have, also, some eggs of 

 this species which it would be impossible to distinguish from 

 those of the robin. 



The young are hatched after about a fortnight's incubation, 



