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the middle pair, which are wholly black, are white at the base, and the 

 under-parts are white with a pinkish tinge. In the hen the upper- 

 parts are russet-brown, with a white streak over each eye, and the 

 under-parts white with crescentic dark brown bars. Young birds are 

 ashy brown above, with a warmer shade on the back and wing-coverts, 

 which are marked with imperfectly crescentic dark brown bars, while 

 the flanks and a band across the upper portion of the breast are dull 

 white with distinctly crescentic dark markings. 



In continental Europe the butcher-bird, as this species is popularly 

 termed in England, ranges as far north as the head of the Baltic, and 

 its breeding-area embraces all to the southward with the exception of 

 the eastern Mediterranean counties, where the mountains alone afford 

 suitable breeding - resorts. 

 Eastwards the species ranges 

 through south-western and 

 central Asia to the Altai ; 

 while the winter-range in- 

 cludes the greater part of 

 Africa. 



A common summer- 

 visitor to the southern dis- 

 tricts of England, the 

 butcher-bird gradually be- 

 comes less and less abundant 

 as we proceed northwards, 

 till in Scotland, where, how- 

 ever, it occasionally nests 

 in the south-eastern counties, 



it may be regarded as a rare bird. Only one instance of its occurrence 

 in Ireland has been recorded up to the date of writing this passage. 

 It is known from Fair Isle. 



The species is one of the latest of the summer-migrants to arrive 

 in England, which it is suggested may be due to its habit of feeding 

 so largely upon the young of other birds. Beetles and bees constitute, 

 however, a considerable portion of its food ; and it is stated that in 

 some districts the presence of the species depends upon the abundance 

 of these insects. Such insects are captured on the wing, in flycatcher- 

 fashion ; the bird returning to its perch after each successful sally, and 

 in some cases proceeding to impale its victim on a thorn alongside 

 other insects and young birds suspended in similar manner. The 

 peculiar cry, which has been compared to the word cJiack, generally 



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