RED-BACKED SHEIKE. 63 



his notice, is thus recorded by Mr. J. H. Gurney in 

 the " Zoologist/' p. 3981. " This morning (Jnne 28tb, 

 1853), a bird-catcher was following his vocation near 

 Norwich, when a red-backed shrike pounced on one oi 

 his caU-birds a (linnet), and attempted to carry it off, 

 but being prevented from doing so by the linnet being 

 fastened to the ground with a string and wooden peg, 

 the shrike tore off the head of its victim, with which it 

 made its escape. The bird-catcher then drew out from 

 the ground the peg which held down the dead linnet, and 

 left the dead bird lying in the net. In about half an 

 hour the shi'ike again appeared, pounced upon the body 

 of the dead liimet, and carried it off in its beak, with the 

 string and peg hanging to it ; the weight of the latter 

 probably was the cause of the shrike not carrying its 

 prey quite away, as it di'opped it after flying about 

 fifteen yards, when the bird-catcher again picked up the 

 dead luinet, and replaced it in the net. The shrike, in 

 the mean time, retreated to some neighbouring bushes, 

 from which it soon made a third pounce upon the nets, 

 this time attacking the second call-bird, which was a 

 sparrow. On this occasion, however, the bird-catcher 

 was on the watch, and, drawmg his nets, captured the 

 shrike, which proved to be an adult female of Lanius 

 collurio." This species also becomes extremely tame 

 when brought up from the nest in confinement, and Mr. 

 Lubbock, on the authority of his friend Mr. Girdlestone, 

 states that the late Mr. Downes, of hawking celebrity, 

 used to amuse himself, after he had given up falconry, 

 by watching his tame shrike catch flies in his sitting- 

 room. The eggs of this bird, as is well known, vary 

 considerably both in colour and markings ; one in my 

 possession, taken in 1853 from a nest in this neighbour- 

 hood, is pure white, and of two others found with it, 

 one had a single dark blotch on the larger end, and 

 the other a few brown spots dotted over a white ground. 



