504 LANIUS IlL TILLS. 



the side of the head is brown ; and the lower parts are greyish- 

 white, the sides tinged with brown, the fore-neck and breast 

 marked with faint semicircular brown lines, of which there 

 are two on each feather. 



Length to end of tail 7j% inches ; bill along the ridge ^''^ ; 

 tarsus {i ; middle toe and claw j|. 



Habits. — The Woodchat Shrike, which extends as far south 

 as the Cape of Good Hope, and is abundant in many parts of 

 Africa, where individuals are said to reside all the year, visits 

 the European continent in spring, and extends its migrations 

 to Italy, France, Switzerland, and Germany, returning south- 

 ward in Sej)tember. It is said to resemble the next species in 

 its habits, to frequent the hedges and sides of roads, to have a 

 short and undulated flight, and to imitate the cries of other 

 birds. Its food consists of insects of various kinds, as well as 

 occasionally of small birds and quadrupeds. Mr Hoy, in Lou- 

 don''s Magazine of Natural History, states that it nestles in- 

 variably in trees, preferring the oak. " The nest is fixed to 

 the fork of a projecting branch, and is composed on the outside 

 of sticks and wool, mixed with white moss from the bodies of 

 the trees, and lined with fine grass and wool. Eggs four or 

 five in number, rather smaller than those of the Red-backed 

 Shrike, and varying much in markings ; the ground colour be- 

 ing pale blue in some, in others a dirty white, surrounded near 

 the larger end with a zone of rust-coloured spots ; in some, 

 again, the markings and spots are of a paler colour, and more 

 dispersed over the egg. It is not a wild bird, often building 

 close to houses and public roads." The same gentleman men- 

 tions two instances of its having been killed in England, near 

 Canterbury, and in the neighbourhood of Swaftliam in Nor- 

 folk. Five others are brought forward by INIr Yarrell, in his 

 instructive and beautifully illustrated History of British Birds ; 

 so that this species is confirmed as a rare visitant in England. 



Young. — The young, after the first moult, are said by M. 

 Temminck to be " of a dull white beneath, with grey bands, 

 reddish-brown above, with brown semilunar markings ; the 

 wings and tail blackish-brown." 



