GREAT CINEREOUS SHRIKE. 499 



in which a thorn bush was fixed, and some mice given to it ; 

 one of which it was observed through a hole to spit upon a 

 thorn with the greatest quickness and adroitness." 



" The specimens of the Greater Shrike, Lanius Excubitor, 

 that have come under my observation," Mr Harley writes to 

 me, " have been killed betwixt the autumnal and vernal equi- 

 nox. I have never heard of the nest of this species being 

 found in England, but I have known of many specimens being 

 shot during winter. I am in the possession of a very fine malo 

 bird which was shot by George Osbaldeston, Esq. of Quomdon, 

 out of a flock of Fieldfares." 



Mr Hepburn, who had the good fortune to procure the indi- 

 vidual from which I have taken the description of the adult 

 male, has transmitted to me the following account of it. " On 

 the morning of the 29th of November 1839, a labourer, A. 

 Watt, who has a good knowledge of the birds found in this 

 district, informed me that a strange bird, which he described, 

 was sitting on the garden hedge. I immediately sallied forth 

 with my gun, and carefully examined the neighbourhood, but 

 without success. On the morning of the Sd of December, 

 however, as I was walking along a low hedge-row, whose 

 twigs had not yet undergone their annual switching, I ob- 

 served several blackbirds hopping about, and repeating their 

 ' alarm notes with much vehemence. Thinking that it might 

 be some skulking cat or weasel, I paid no further attention to 

 them, and was proceeding, when of a sudden, a strange bird, 

 which I took for a kind of Thrush, sprung from the hedo-e, 

 about twelve paces in advance of me. It flew directly from 

 the fence, then wheeled to the left, and pursued its course in a 

 parallel direction, bounding along, with an undulating flight, 

 like that of a wagtail. Of a sudden it shot ujowards to the 

 height of six or eight feet above the line of its flight, which 

 was nearly fourteen feet from the ground, hung in the air for 

 fifteen seconds, moving its wings with great rapidity, and occa- 

 sionally dangling its legs. Dropping down a few feet, it re- 

 sumed its ordinary flight. These manoeuvres were repeated 

 several times, till it alighted on the top of a tall willow tree, 

 in a small plantation between the stack-yard and garden. 



