142 THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 



species was shot, and on the following day a pair were 

 obtained. A circumstance occurred in connection with the 

 capture of these birds that is perhaps interesting ; it appears 

 the male and female were both sitting on a dead branch 

 near each other when the female was shot. The person who 

 shot it repaired to the same place early the following day 

 to shoot the male, when he found a second female ; this he 

 shot, and later in the day shot the male. Is it possible 

 that the male had two wives ? It is scarcely reasonable 

 that he could have picked up another mate in so short a time 

 in a part of the country where these birds are so rare. I 

 ought to mention that the first female was laying, and had an 

 egg fully developed in the ovary. A search was afterwards 

 made, and the nest, containing one egg, found near the 

 spot where all three birds were shot. The second female 

 was a younger bird, and showed no signs of breeding, the eggs 

 in the ovary being very small." 



At Swillington Hall a female and young one, thought to 

 have been bred there, were obtained on 2nd July 1881, as 

 communicated by the late J. Tennant. A nest and eggs were 

 found on Oliver's Mount, Scarborough, 3rd July 1889 

 (W. Gyngell MS.) ; in the north-west Mr. W. Morris states 

 that he has taken the nest in a thick thorn bush, and I am 

 aware of several instances of this bird breeding in Clevel .nd ; 

 twice near Redcar, about 1870, when both nest and young 

 were found, and in June 1898, when a nest and two eggs 

 were discovered in a thorn bush at Gunnergate. Lastly, 

 the late J. Cordeaux recorded (Nat. 1895, p. i), the nesting of 

 a pair at Winsetts, a farm between Skeffiing and Easington, 

 in the summer of 1894 ; five young got off in the third week 

 of July, but unfortunately the parent birds and two young 

 were killed, the latter having apparently just left the nest. 



Concerning the reported nesting of this species at Silsden 

 in Airedale (" Vertebrate Fauna of Yorksliire," p. 27), the 

 evidence is not considered to be of a satisfactory character. 



In addition to the above, the Red-backed Shrike has been 

 observed on the undermentioned occasions. In some of these 

 instances the dates would seem to indicate that the species 



