202 LANIID.E. 



flight of the Great Shrike is " interrupted, heing performed 

 by jerks ; iuid when perched, the tail is kept in constant 

 motion." It frequents groves and forests, and builds on 

 trees at some distance from the ground, making a nest of 

 roots, bents, and moss, lined with wool and feathers, the 

 latter appearing over the brim of the nest. The eggs are 

 from four to seven in number, white tinged with green, or 

 occasionally cream-colour, blotched irregularly with olive- 

 green, wood-brown and dull lilac of various shades : the 

 markings being sometimes suffused over the greater part of the 

 shell, at others collected into a more or less distinct zone. 

 The eggs measure from 1*17 to 1*01 by from '83 to '75 in. 



The Great Grey Shrike has been obtained in most if not 

 in all of the English counties, and in some very many times. 

 It has also occurred in Wales, though the records of its 

 appearance there are not numerous, probably from the 

 scarcity of observers. In Ireland it has been several times 

 obtained, chiefly, as appears from Thompson's statements, 

 in the north. According to Mr. Robert Gray it is a regular 

 winter-visitant to the eastern parts of Scotland, but less 

 frequently towards the interior, while further to the west its 

 occurrence, though not uncommon, is at uncertain intervals. 

 No examples seem to be recorded from the Hebrides, but 

 three are mentioned by Messrs. Baikie and Heddle as having 

 been obtained in the Orkneys, where it appears to be an 

 occasional winter-visitant, while in the Shetlands it has been 

 once seen by Dr. Saxby (Zool. s.s. p. 2561). It does not seem 

 to have been observed in the Fioroes, but the Editor has been 

 assured by Mr. John Pell, the well-known falconer, whose pro- 

 fessional acquaintance with the Great Grey Shrike makes his 

 testimony valuable, that in 1845 he saw a bird of this species 

 in Iceland. It occurs over the whole of Scandinavia, breeding 

 so far to the northward as lat. 71°, as it does in northern 

 Russia ; and it ranges across Asia, according to Herr Radde, 

 to South-eastern Siberia. But here a second allied species 

 may exist and possibly have been mistaken for it. Re- 

 turning to Europe it breeds not uncommonly in northern 

 and central Germany, Holland and Belgium, and is said to 



