608 BRITISH BIRDS. 
bones of a bird or mouse, the wing-cases of insects, portions of bees and 
wasps, will all tell their tale of this little plunderer’s voracity. As an 
instance of this bird’s rapacity, may be mentioned Mr. Clark-Kennedy’s 
account in the ‘ Zoologist’ (1875, p. 4722), where he describes the thorn- 
trees “decorated” with the bodies of the Great Tit, Blue Tit, Long-tailed 
Tit, Robin, and Hedge-Accentor, once with a young Thrush, twice with 
old Blackbirds, and once with young Partridges. It has also been known 
to feed on young Pheasants. Sometimes the bird will be seen to poise 
and hover above some bush or hedgerow, then pass onwards for a few 
yards, and again repeat the fluttering movements, like a miniature Kestrel. 
Its usual flight is a very drooping one, something like that of the 
Green Woodpecker. The Red-backed Shrike does not pursue small birds 
through the air; its powers of wing are not sufficient to allow it to engage 
in such chases with success; but it drops suddenly down upon them, either 
on the ground or when they are sitting on a twig, killing them with its 
powerful bill. 
The call-note of the Red-backed Shrike is a harsh chirp; and its 
alarm-note, more rapidly and frequently repeated when its nest is ap- 
proached, is a harsh chack. 'The song is very short and simple, merely 
a few notes quickly repeated; but in confinement it is said to imitate 
readily the songs of other birds. 
Soon after its arrival, usually by the second week in May, the Red- 
backed Shrike searches out a nesting-site. The situation chosen is usually 
in the tall hedgerows (the bird’s favourite retreat) or in the dense bushes 
overgrown with brambles. It appears to show very little care for the con- 
cealment of its nest, and will often build it ina bush or hedge by a much- 
frequented roadway. The nest is a bulky one, large for the size of the 
bird, and made of dry stems of plants, dead grass, rootlets, and moss, and 
lined with horsehair and sometimes a little wool. The eggs are from four 
to six in number, and are subject to such considerable variation that it 
would almost be impossible to describe each in turn. For the sake of 
convenience, they may be divided into four very distinct types. The first 
is pale green in ground-colour, spotted and speckled with olive-brown and 
with numerous underlying markings of violet-grey ; the second is pale buff 
in ground-colour, spotted and blotched with pale olive-brown and with 
underlying spots of pale brown and violet-grey ; the third is almost pure 
white or creamy white in ground-colour, finely speckled and spotted with 
rich reddish brown, and with larger underlying spots of violet-grey ; the 
fourth has a salmon-coloured ground, spotted and blotched with brownish 
red of different shades, with violet-grey underlying spots and sometimes 
a few hair-like lines of deep brown. The character of the markings also 
varies considerably. Some eggs are uniformly spotted over the entire 
surface; most frequently the markings take the form of a zone, and 
