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SHRIKES. 



By the Rev. II. A. MACPHERSON, M.A. 

 (Read at Carlisle.) 



Five species of the Genus Lanius visit England, viz : — 



The Red-backed Shrike ; 

 The Woodchat Shrike; 

 The Lesser Grey Shrike ; 

 The Great Grey Shrike ; 

 The Pallas's Grey Shrike. 



The Red-backed Shrike is a regular summer visitor, usually 

 arriving in the Southern Counties during the first week in May. 

 The male is a beautiful slate-grey above, with chestnut-brown back, 

 dark wings, a black and white tail, the under-surface of the body 

 being pale red. He has also a very distinct black eye-stripe. The 

 Red-backed Shrike breeds in all the counties of England and 

 Wales, but becomes rarer towards the north, so that though well 

 established in the Lake District, it seldom breeds as far north as 

 Carlisle, and has only occurred in Scotland in a very few instances. 



Personally, I have nowhere found it so abundant as in the rural 

 districts around London ; in Epping Forest, for instance, I have 

 often observed the male of this species perched, like a sentinel, on 

 the topmost spray of a tall hedgerow, waiting to dart down upon 

 the passing insect. It has only, however, fallen to my lot once 

 to see an insect caught and impaled ; my impression is that the 

 Shrike does not impale by any means all his prey. The objects 



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