308 CATALOGUE OF BIRDS. 



by eager naturalists. As this species is a very rare 

 straofcrler to the British Islands, and does not favour 

 us with a visit more than about once in twenty 

 years, I recognised how hopeless it would be for 

 me ever to expect to come across it, so I bought 

 a couple. Howard Saunders records the first visit 

 of Waxwings as occurring in 1686. Their habitat 

 abroad is the Arctic regions and the northern parts 

 of Europe in summer ; and in winter they visit the 

 United States amongst other places. The word 

 Waxwino- refers to the little red sealingr-wax looking 

 tips to the points of the wing feathers. 



The Red- Backed Shrike. 

 Order, Passeres. Family, LaniidcE. 



This species, one common name for which is the 

 " Butcher Bird," arrives in May, and very soon 

 spreads over the woodlands in the southern and 

 central counties. It is not very common in Wales ; 

 although during my stay in the wooded districts in 

 Merionethshire there were plenty of them. In Nor- 

 folk it is decreasing, in Scotland it is rare beyond 

 the Firth of Forth, and in Ireland only a single 

 example has been recorded. The birds in the case 

 are parents with their grown-up young. The male 

 bird sitting in front was shot in Radnorshire, and 

 the rest in Surrey, in the neighbourhood of the 

 Caterham Valley. 



Howard Saunders says : " The nest, large for the 

 size of the bird, is usually placed about five or six 



