BIRDS OF THE WOODLANDS loi 



The Red-backed Shrike is a summer visitor to 

 these islands. It is generally familiar in the more 

 southerly counties, growing rarer to the north. The 

 adult male, with its chestnut back and wings, and 

 black and grey head, is a handsome and conspicu- 

 ous bird. The nest is large in relation to the 

 Shrike's size, and is usually placed in a high hedge 

 or bush. The eggs, four to five in number, vary 

 very much in colour. They are usually of a 

 yellowish-white marked with brown, but examples 

 are constantly found of a greenish or salmon-pink 

 ground colour with blotches of lilac and light-red. 

 In common with other members of its family, the 

 chief characteristics of the Red-backed Shrike is the 

 curious habit of forming a larder in the hedges. 

 Here mice, birds and beetles are found impaled 

 upon sharp thorns to await the returning hunger of 

 their captors. The practice of storing up food for 

 future use, although commonly adopted by certain 

 orders of mammals, is rarely a part of the domestic 

 economy of birds, and never in so marked a degree 

 as in the Shrikes. It is from this habit that the 

 familiar name Butcher-bird is derived. 



In the summer woodlands, especially in the south, 

 one's attention is often attracted bv a small chirping 

 note many times repeated. It is so slight in quality 

 that it would appear to proceed from one of the 

 smaller finches. But soon a bird of fairly large 

 size is perceived, perched in the manner of a fly- 

 catcher, on the topmost bough of the tall hedge 

 which skirts the wood. Then it becomes clear that 

 the notes, which seemed to be so nearly at hand, 

 really proceed from the more distant Shrike. He is 



