136 THE BIRDS OF KENT 



As I distinctly saw the rufous of the bind neck there 

 can be no doubt of its being the Wood Shrike." 



Professor Newton also states that *' the bird has been 

 obtained near Brighton, and a second time in Kent," 

 without further data. 



In 1868, Mr. A. Clarke-Kennedy wrote the following 

 notes on the Woodchat to the Zoologist, September 11, 

 1869, p. 1863 :— 



"For several days during the month of July, 1868, a 

 Woodchat Shrike had been known to frequent gardens 

 in the neighbourhood of Faversham and Murston, but 

 for a time all endeavours to shoot the bird were unavail- 

 ing, as it was extremely wild. Towards the end of the 

 month, however, it was seen upon a cherry tree in an 

 orchard at Murston, by Mr. N. Barlow, who killed it, 

 and took it to a local taxidermist, who informed him 

 that it was a common bird and of no value ; but as soon 

 as the possessor of the rarity had departed the unscru- 

 pulous dealer sold it to a gentleman who well knew its 

 worth, and for a large sum. My friend, who is not an 

 ornithologist, afterwards found that he had been cheated 

 out of a fine male specimen of one of the rarest birds 

 that visit this country." 



Mr. 0. V. Aplin states that Mr. W. Oxenden Hammond, 

 of St. Alban's Court, Wingham, writes: ''As to the 

 Woodchat, about three years ago (1899), I heard from a 

 bird-catcher at Dover that he had just caught one. I 

 went at once to see it, and learn about it. The bird was 

 in beautiful plumage, all the feathers, tail and wings 

 perfectly clean. The owner told me that his men had 

 taken it in the warren near Folkestone. That when 

 they saw the bird it entered a dense clump of bramble, 

 going to the bottom, and that they enclosed it in the 



