RED-BACKED SHRIKE. 607 
Like the Lesser Grey Shrike, the Red-backed Shrike has no very near ally, 
nor does it appear to be subject to any local variation. 
The Red-backed Shrike is one of the very latest summer migrants to 
arrive on our shores. It is rarely seen in its favourite haunts before the 
beginning of May; and as it seldom courts concealment, its arrival may 
be detected at once. Unlike many other of our summer birds of passage, 
both sexes appear to arrive together ; and having once chosen a haunt, 
they seldom stray far away from it. The haunt of this interesting bird is 
in the open. Like the Flycatcher, it seems to prefer a locality which 
affords a good look-out, and at the same time a place of concealment to 
which it can retire if alarmed. You may often see the bird in localities 
abounding in tall hedgerows, or on the borders of woods, on heaths and 
commons, and more rarely near houses in large gardens. The habits of 
all the Shrikes are strikingly alike, and closely resemble those of the 
Flycatchers. Like that soberly dressed little bird the Spotted Flycatcher, 
the Red-backed Shrike will sit for hours on some bare perch, ever and 
anon sallying forth to capture a passing insect. Sometimes it will choose 
a bare bough on the side of a hedgerow, sometimes the topmost twig of a 
dense bush all overgrown with brambles, or sometimes a rail or stump— 
in fact any situation from which a good view may be obtained. Here the 
wary Shrike will sit, occasionally turning its head from side to side and 
jerking its tail, waiting patiently for prey. Although so small and insig- 
nificant, the little birds are in almost as much danger from him as they are 
from the bold relentless Sparrow-Hawk. When the occasion offers, he will 
pounce down upon some small bird sitting unsuspectingly near him, or he 
will chase the shrew-mice and deftly seize them as they wander through 
the grass. So bold is the Red-backed Shrike in search of food that it has 
been known to attack the call-birds, and is often taken in the birdeatcher’s 
net—a victim to its own rapacity. 
At times the bird will alight upon the ground and search for beetles ; 
but the bulk of its food is either caught on the wing or dropped down 
upon unawares. In addition to small birds and mice, the Red-backed 
Shrike feeds upon lizards, many kinds of beetles, and also on bees, wasps, 
and grasshoppers. Like its congeners, it conveys many of its captures to 
some bush covered with sharp thorns, on which it impales its victims and 
devours them at leisure. This peculiar habit in the Shrikes of thus 
spitting their food is probably caused by the birds not having sufficiently 
powerful feet to grasp their prey until torn in pieces by the sharply toothed 
bill. They therefore secure their food on sharp thorns, and are able then, if 
it be a bird, to pluck it, or if an insect, a lizard, or a mouse, to tear it 
to pieces. In places frequented by this bold little bird, it is no uncommon 
thing to see in the bushes the remnants of its meal—of many meals; for 
the bird will regularly retire to one place for its purpose ; and the bleached 
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