WOODCHAT SHRIKE. 611 
the Caucasus. It winters in Africa south of the Sahara and north of the 
equator. The Woodchat Shrike has no very near ally ; nor does it appear 
to be subject to any local variations in the colour of its plumage. 
The habits of the Woodchat Shrike do not differ from those of its con- 
gener the Red-backed Shrike. Its haunts are in comparatively open 
places—districts sparsely studded with bushes and a few trees. Here it 
takes up its perch on some topmost spray or on the outside limb of a tree, 
where its bright plumage is most conspicuous, and where it sits for a 
lengthened period on the look-out for food. Ever and anon it will be 
seen to open and jerk its tail; and it is incessantly turning its head from 
side to side in close search for prey. It is not a wary bird, and, with 
due precaution, may be quite closely approached. Usually it is seen in 
pairs ; and when disturbed, both birds will fly off in company. 
In Greece and Asia Minor I found the Woodchat very common. With 
the exception of the Black-headed Bunting, I found more of its nests than 
those of any other bird. It is only a summer visitor to both these coun- 
tries, belonging neither to the earliest nor to the latest birds of passage. 
It arrives about the first of April, at least three weeks after the Swallows, 
whose range extends into the Arctic regions, but three weeks before the 
Tree-Warblers (Hypolais eleica and H. olivetorum), whose range does not 
extend north of the basin of the Mediterranean. It is a very conspicuous 
bird, and cannot easily be overlooked, and is very common in the olive-forests. 
As you descend the mountains the olives in the valley look like a dense 
forest, often extending twenty miles or more ; but when you descend into 
them you find that the trees are planted at some distance from each other, 
and that a considerable cultivation of vines, mulberries, and sometimes 
Indian corn, is carried on between them. But it is perhaps on the lower” 
slopes of the hills, where the trees are more stunted and the ground is 
less cultivated, that the Woodchat is oftenest to be seen. Perched con- 
spicuously upon the top of a bush, or even a lofty tree, it appears ever 
to be on the watch for the chance of pouncing down upon some unwary 
insect that may come within its range. Its song is by no means unmu- 
sical, and very gentle to proceed from such raptorial jaws. It reminded 
me very much of the twittering of a Swallow or the warble of a Starling. 
Some of its call-notes, however, are loud and harsh enough; and [ at first 
thought it was imitating the notes of other birds in order to attract them 
within reach; but inasmuch as the greater number of notes it apparently 
imitated were of birds far too powerful for it to grapple with, such cannot 
be the case. The first nest I found in Greece was at Delphi, not very far 
from the ruins of the Temple of Apollo. The nest contained six eggs on 
the 5th of May. Higher than 2000 feet above the level of the sea the 
bird became much rarer; and in the pine-region, 4000 feet above the sea- 
level, its place seemed to be entirely taken by the Red-backed Shrike ; 
