58o PERCHING BIRDS 



betrays the whereabouts of birds of this species ; but it is stated that 

 the cock has also a song of its own. 



Owing, it is said, to the practice of cutting hedges, butcher-birds 

 are reported to be less common nowadays in the south of England 

 than formerly ; as with the disappearance of the overgrown old-fashioned 

 hedges they are at a loss to find suitable nesting-sites. Moss and 

 roots form the main structure of the loosely-built nest, which is lined 

 with grass and wool, together with a small amount of hair. In this 

 are laid from four to six handsomely but variably coloured eggs, the 

 ground-colour ranging from buff to reddish cream, and from greenish 

 white to pale green. In the buff phase the spots, which sometimes 

 form a ring, are rusty, with underlying ones of grey ; while in the 

 green t}'pe the markings are brown, with a violet tinge in those of the 

 deeper layer. 



,„ J , , The last British representative of the group is 

 Woodchat o i 



tiic wood - shrike, often known scientifically as 

 (Lanius . , r ^ ■ -i 



lAUiins ruins. In the cock of this species the 

 pomeranus). •' , . , 



crown and nape are chestnut-red ; a stripe at the 



root of the beak, the scapulars, the upper tail-coverts, and a band 



across the otherwise black primary quills, are white ; the space in 



front of the eye, the ear-coverts, and the sides of the neck and back 



are black ; the loins are grey, passing into the white of the tail-coverts ; 



and the under-parts are buffish white. I lens are duller in colour, blackish 



brown rci)lacing the black. Young birds are paler than their female 



parents, the scapulars, margins of the wing-coverts, and the loins being 



sandy buff; while there is no black on the forehead, and the lower 



surface is white with dusky cresccntic bars. 



A summer-visitor to southern and central Europe from Africa, the 

 woodchat rarely reaches England, the number of recorded instances of 

 its occurrence (including some that are doubtful) up to the \car 1892 

 being between thirty-five and forty, and most of them relating to the 

 southern and eastern counties. In Scotland it appears to be unknown, 

 and there is only one Irish record. The sj)ecies is, however, stated to 

 have nested in the Isle of Wight about the year i 860, and a clutch of 

 eggs in the Dorset Museum is reported to have been taken in Dorset- 

 shire, while there is also a statement as to nestlings having been 

 obtained in at least one other count}-. 



The general habits of the species resemble those of other shrikes ; 

 the cock having a harsh monosyllabic cry, several times repeated, and 

 also a low song in the nesting-season. 



