RED-BACKED SHRIKE 133 



rows, where it may be seen sitting at the end of a branch, 

 especially a dead one, from which it can dart off after its 

 prey. 



The Rev. J. Pemberton Bartlett, in his Ornithologij 

 of Kent, 1844, says: "A year or two since I observed 

 a male Shrike of this species flying with a bird in its 

 claws, after the manner of an owl. Being curious to 

 know what bird it was, I threw a stone at it ; whether 

 I hit it or not I could not tell, but the effect was that 

 it dropped its prey, which I found to be a Blue-headed 

 Titmouse. These birds are very generally distributed 

 throughout the county. They arrive in this neighbour- 

 hood about the first or second week in May, and are 

 seldom seen after the end of August." 



This species was seen at Boxley on May 24, 1872, and 

 also at Springfield, Maidstone, on November 25, 1886. 



Dr. A. G. Butler, during his bird's-nesting in Kent in 

 1875, found the nests of this bird at " Barming, near 

 Maidstone, on June 2 and 7, 1875, two nests, built in 

 bushes, were varieties ("?), the eggs resembling those of 

 the Grey Shrike. Barming, June 2 : Nests larger than 

 the preceding, heavier in construction, and built in the 

 forks of elder and hawthorn trees." 



A pair with three young, the nest, and a female from 

 Boughton, Monchelsea, are in the Maidstone Museum, 

 presented by Mr. R. J. Balston. This species is included 

 by Captain J. D. Cameron in the Birds of Bethersden, 

 and the Eev. C. H. Fielding, in his Birds of the Mailing 

 Valley, gives the localities of Cobham, Shorne, Cuxton? 

 Mereworth and Great Com p. 



In his notes on birds in Kent Captain Boyd Alexander 

 says : " Families of Red-backed Shrikes are abroad. Stout 

 hedgerows, whose out-growing branches serve as perches, 



