LESSER GREY SHRIKE. 605 
twig or two, a piece of flag-like rush, and a little wool at the foundation, 
the whole nest is composed of a downy-leaved cudweed (Cnaphaken 
dioicum), some in flower and some in seed, and most pulled up by the 
roots. Naumann describes the nest as usually built in Germany of dry 
roots, twigs, couch-grass, hay and straw, lined with wool, hair, and 
feathers. 
The eggs vary in number from four to seven. Some are very round, 
measuring *95 by ‘8 inch. Others are much longer and more pointed, as 
for example, 1:05 by ‘7 inch. The average size and shape lies between 
these extremes. The ground-colour isa pale bluish green. Some eggs have 
a few small greenish-brown spots, chiefly towards the larger end. Typical 
eggs have also larger spots or blotches; whilst in examples which are 
exceptionally rich in their markings the spots round the egg towards the 
large end are confluent, but do not assume the form of a uniform band 
round the egg, because the underlying spots, which in all the varieties are 
paler and greener than the overlying spots, are distinctly visible amongst 
the others. The eggs of this bird may easily be distinguished from those 
of the Great Grey Shrike by their smaller size and much greener colour. 
From the largest and greenest varieties of the eggs of the Woodchat it is 
not quite so easy to separate them; but the latter are very seldom if ever 
quite so large or quite so green. It is not known that rufous varieties of 
the eggs of the Lesser Grey Shrike ever occur. 
The Lesser Grey Shrike is a handsome bird, very similar in colour 
to the Great Grey Shrike, but with a black forehead, and with pale 
reddish-buff breast and flanks. Like Pallas’s Grey Shrike, it has only 
one wing-bar. The female scarcely differs from the male. In the young 
the grey back is replaced by brown, and most of the feathers are trans- 
versely barred, and the reddish tinge on the underparts is nearly obsolete. 
Curiously enough, the moult of this bird appears to take place in winter ; 
adult birds leave in their faded summer dress, and young birds in then 
barred plumage. Examples from South Africa in full moult are dated 
January and February. 
