THE SHRIKES. I 69 



on the plains of Eastern Africa sitting about on the thorny 

 bushes, and behaving much as the species does in England, 

 and he considered that it was likely they were about to nest, 

 as they were in beautiful spring plumage. As is well known, 

 however, many of our migratory species gain their most bril- 

 liant plumage before they leave their winter quarters, and come 

 to Europe only after their breeding-dress is perfectly donned ; 

 and up to the present there is no evidence of the nesting of 

 the Red backed Shrike in any part of Africa. Another winter 

 home of the species is the Persian Gulf, where it has been 

 found by Mr. W. D. Cumming, and it also visits India, in the 

 extreme north-west of which country it has been found in the 

 cold season. 



Habits. — There is much that reminds us of a Flycatcher in 

 the way in which the present species captures its food, for it has 

 undoubtedly favourite perches, on which it sits, and to which 

 it returns after the capture of an insect. It is frequently to be 

 seen on telegraph-wires, whence it keeps a sharp look-out in 

 every direction, and a favourite resort is a field of freshly- 

 cut grass. It also captures a good many mice and small birds, 

 not pursuing them in the open like birds of prey, but dropping 

 down on them suddenly. In the British Museum is a very 

 good specimen of the larder of a Red-backed Shrike, taken with 

 the nest of the bird by Lord Walsingham in Norfolk, and 

 showing the way in which the Shrike spits insects and birds on 

 thorns, and the species has been known, according to Captain 

 Clark-Kennedy, to hang up birds even bigger than itself, such 

 as Blackbirds and Thrushes, as well as Tits of several kinds, 

 Robins and Hedge-Sparrows, while it will also occasionally 

 seize young Partridges and Pheasants. Wherever the bird 

 occurs it is somewhat local, and Mr. Aplin, in the paper above 

 referred to, says that the distribution of the Red-backed Shrike 

 " seems, within certain limits, to be determined mainly by the 

 nature of the soil and climate, and the bearing of these upon 

 the insect life of a particular district. The favourite food of 

 'this Shrike during its residence with us consists of large-bodied 

 insects, especially beetles and bees; and I believe that the 

 comparative abundance or scarcity of that food in any given 

 district largely determines the numerical strength or weakness 

 of this species therein. A warm soil (e.g., sand, gravel, lime- 



