5/8 pp:rching birds 



bars ; while young birds are greyish brown above, and more thickly 

 barred below. 



An inhabitant of southern and eastern Europe, ranging in summer 

 to the extreme north of Scandinavia, the grey shrike is, as a rule, 

 only an autumn-visitor to the British Isles, where, however, it has been 

 occasionally seen in summer, although never known to nest. To 

 England it is a regular visitor, but it appears to be less common in 

 Ireland and Scotland, although it has been recorded from the Outer 

 Hebrides. The general habits of this handsome species are similar to 

 those of other members of the group ; the formation of a " larder " of 

 impaled insects, young birds, and small mammals being the most 

 noteworthy trait. 



Fallas's grey shrike {Laniits sibiricus, or L. major) is a slightly larger 

 species or race inhabiting northern Russia and Siberia, distinguished 

 from the last by the presence of a patch of white on the upper tail- 

 coverts and the smaller amount of white on the wings, which forms a 

 single, in place of a double bar when the latter are closed. While one 

 writer states that this species in some autumns and winters appears to 

 be as common in the British Islands as the last, a second admits only 

 four records of its occurrence during last centurx'. Grey shrikes with 

 a single wing-bar were taken in Fair Isle in 1907. 



Of the lesser grey shrike {Lnuzus minor), a south European species 

 visiting northern Africa in winter, seven examples were recorded in 

 England during the nineteenth century, all from the southern and 

 eastern counties ; the time of year ranging from May till November. 

 An eighth specimen was recorded from Norfolk in 1902, and a ninth 

 from Sussex in the autumn of 1905. In addition to its somewhat 

 inferior size (length 8j inches) this species may be distinguished from 

 the ordinary grey shrike by the much shorter first primary quill of the 

 wing, and when adult by the black forehead. 



A specimen of the southern grey shrike (/,. incridio)iaIis) was re- 

 ported to have been taken in Essex in 1875 ; and one of the masked 

 shrike (Z,. nnbicus) was shot in Kent in the summer of 1905. The 

 latter is a native of south-eastern iMU'ope. 



, . ,-„... The red-backed shrike, or butcher-bird, represents 



,, . ,, . , a second section of the genus, distinguished by 



(Lanius eollurio). . , ' 



the prevalence of chestnut m the colouring. In 



the cock of this species the crown of the head and na[)e of the 



neck are grey, and the space in front of the eye and the car-coverts 



black ; the back is chestnut ; the tail-feathers, with the exception of 



