CHAPTER OF VARIETIES. 55 



Being a constant reader of your magazine as well as of your other 

 interesting publications on the science, I intend to make a point of 

 occasionally sending you Ornithological and Botanical notices*. PLINY. 



Lancaster, Dec. 6th, 1833. 



THE WOODCHAT. On the 17th of May, 1833, I shot a female 

 woodchat, Bewick, (Lanius rufus, Lin.) it was in company with a red- 

 backed Shrike (Lanius Colurius), and appeared to have paired with it, 

 as after I had shot the woodchat, the flusher kept flying round the place 

 where the bird fell, and appeared evidently distressed. I tried to shoot it, 

 but he was too cunning, keeping at a very good distance from my gun. 

 After trying to get at him for some time, I was obliged to give up the 

 chace. As some naturalists state that the Lanius rufus is a distinct 

 species, and others that it is only a variety of the red-backed shrike, 

 I think it right to forward this statement to your valuable magazine. 

 Not seeing any other woodchat about, makes me think that it must 

 have paired with the flusher. On dissecting the bird, I found her full 

 of eggs ; her gizzard was filled with beetles' wings. Red-backed shrikes 

 abound about here, on the sides of the mountains, near the Capel Curig 

 lakes. On the 19th instant, I shot four of them ; they all proved to be 

 male birds ; their gizzards were filled with the same kind of beetles' 

 wings as the woodchat. As you state that you will receive hints from 

 mere beginners, I trust you will consider this as one. 



Since writing this, I have killed another xvoodchat, in company with 

 a red-backed shrike. Although I shot at both at the same time, I only 

 killed the woodchat, which proved to be another female. After I had 

 shot it, the flusher kept flying from rock to rock round the place, giving 

 a shrill whistle. I have also shot another flusher, which was a male 

 again. It seems odd I cannot shoot a female, unless the woodchat is it. 

 Both the woodchats corresponded exactly with the figure in Bewick. 



A. T. 



Capel Curig, Caernarvonshire, May 22, 1833. 



* The fact mentioned by our correspondent is curious : every attention will be 

 paid to the promised notices. EDITOR. 



