RED-BACKED SHRIKE. 507 



marked with transverse dusky lines, of which some are percep- 

 tible on the back also. There is a whitish band over the 

 eye ; the auriculars are brown ; the lower parts greyish-white, 

 tinged with brown on the breast, and except the throat and 

 abdomen, marked with curved lines of dusky brown, of which 

 there are two on each feather. 



Length to end of tail 7i inches ; extent of wings 12j. 



Habits.-— This species is not very uncommon in many dis- 

 tricts of England, as about London and Bristol, in most of 

 the southern counties, and many of the eastern and western, 

 but gradually diminishes in number as we proceed northward, 

 and has not hitherto been observed in any part of Scotland. 

 It frequents the margins of woods, thickets, and tall hedges, as 

 well as open downs and commons which are more or less 

 covered with furze. It is frequently seen perched on a top 

 twig, whence it issues in pursuit of insects, which it fixes upon 

 the thorns, eating the soft parts, but generally leaving the tho- 

 rax and elytra. It has been seen by several creditable observers 

 to prey upon small birds, with which it deals in the same man- 

 ner as the Cinereous Shrike. Messrs Sheppard and Whitear 

 state that they once saw a male eager in chase of a Blackbird. 

 Its flight is quick and undulated, and it frequently hovers over 

 a spot in the manner of the Whinchat. Its ordinary note is a 

 kind of chirp, but it has also a short modulated song, and is 

 capable of imitating the cries of several other birds. It appears 

 that the nest of this species is sometimes selected by the Cuckoo 

 in which to deposit her egg. In speaking of the latter bird, 

 the Reverend Messrs Sheppard and Whitear, in the Linnaean 

 Transactions, Vol. XV, p. 28, state that on the 21st July 1816, 

 they " observed a pair of Red-backed Shrikes very busy in 

 feeding a young Cuckoo which was perched on an oak." This 

 fact confirms Temminck's remark, who says that the Cuckoo 

 will sometimes lay its egg in the nest of the above-mentioned 

 Shrike. It also contradicts Montagu's, who asserts that the 

 " Yellow-hammer"'s egg is larger than that of any other bird in 

 whose nest the Cuckoo chooses to lay ;" for the egg of the 

 Red-backed Shrike is superior in size. 



