220 EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



Of the nest and eggs of Pallas' s Grey Shrike nothing definite 

 appears to be known. 



THE GEE AT GKEY SHKIKE. 

 (Lanius excubitor.) 



Plate 54, Fig. 9. 



The Great Grey Shrike is a regular though somewhat rare 

 autumn and winter visitant to the British Islands. It breeds in 

 the north of France, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Germany, 

 Denmark, Scandinavia (up to about lat. 70°), and North Eussia. 



The nest of the Great Grey Shrike is a somewhat bulky struc- 

 ture, as large as that of a Blackbird. Outside it is composed of 

 slender twigs, dry grass, a few leaves, and a little moss, and is 

 lined with roots, wool, hair, and feathers. 



The number of eggs varies from five to seven. They are buffish 

 or greenish- white in ground-colour, blotched and spotted with 

 olive-brown of different shades, and with underlying markings of 

 violet-grey. Usually most of the spots are on the large end of 

 the egg, where many of them are confluent. Sometimes they 

 form an irregular zone, and are generally somewhat ill-defined. 

 The eggs of this Shrike do not differ very much ; and the red 

 type of egg, found in a series of eggs of L. collurio and L. rufus, 

 appears never to occur. They vary in length from 1*1 to 10 inch, 

 and in breadth from 0'8 to 075 inch. 



THE LESSEE GEEY SHEIKE. 



(Lanius minor.) 



Plate 54, Fig. 12. 



The Lesser Grey Shrike can only be considered a very acci- 

 dental straggler to the British Islands. It breeds in Eastern 

 France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, South Eussia (up to lat. 

 57°), Austria, Turkey, Asia Minor, Palestine, Turkestan, Persia, 

 and South-western Siberia (as far north as Omsk, in lat. 57°, 

 and as far east as Lake Saisan, in long. 84°). 



The Lesser Grey Shrike breeds early in June, and the nest is 

 placed in the thick branches of poplars or fruit-trees, at least ten 

 feet from the ground. One which I found near Smyrna, with the 



