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is built of sticks and heather stems, and lined with 

 roots, grass, and sometimes a bunch of wool or cowhair. 



The eggs are from two to five, greenish white in 

 ground colour, spotted with brown. They are some- 

 what like the eggs of the Magpie, but larger, and the 

 markings are yellower. 



The Chough feeds on beetles, grubs, caterpillars, 

 grain and raw meat. Meyer says they are " easily 

 tamed, and are very amusing and clever, and may be 

 taught to pronounce many words ; but they are very 

 inquisitive and troublesome, carrying off and hiding 

 anything they take a fancy to. If confined in a 

 cage, they peck and beat about its boundaries con- 

 tinually, in search of insects." In the Zoologist (p. 

 431, 1882) there is an account of two pairs which were 

 tamed, but allowed to fiy where they liked. One of 

 these pairs built a nest in a tower attached to the 

 house and laid three eggs. This seems to be the only 

 recorded instance of tame Choughs breeding. 



RED-BACKED SHRIKE. 



LANIUS COLLURIO. 



Family Passerid.^, Sub-family Laniin^. Genus Lanius. 



Lesser Butcher Bird — Cheeter — Flusher — Murdering Pie — 

 • Jack Baker — Nine Killer. 



A summer migrant reaching our shores at the end 

 of April or beginning of May, and leaving again in 

 September. It is commonest in the southern counties 

 of England. North of Yorkshire it is very scarce, and 

 in Ireland it seems to have been only once recorded. 

 In Hampshire we find it fairly common^ and a season 

 seldom passes without some eggs being taken. 



