614 BRITISH BIRDS. 
cotton threads of a piece of stocking, evidently torn to pieces by the bird. 
He also states that in Palestine the bird never appears to use wool or hair 
in the construction of its nest. 
The Woodchat Shrike is a very handsome bird. The male has the 
crown of the head and the nape, extending onto the upper back, rich 
chestnut ; lores white; the forehead, the space round the eye, the ear- 
coverts, the sides of the neck, and the upper part of the back are black ; 
the rump is white, shading into grey on the lower back and longest upper 
tail-coverts ; the wings are black, the basal part of the primaries white, 
forming a conspicuous spot, and the secondaries tipped with white ; the 
tail is black, all the feathers, except the two central ones, white at the base 
and tipped with white, the two outermost feathers being almost uniform 
white on the outer web. The general colour of the underparts is pure 
white. Bill black; legs, toes, and claws dark brown; irides hazel. The 
female resembles the male, but has the red parts duller, and the parts 
which are black in the male are brown suffused with red; the underparts 
are buffish white, shading into pale buff on the flanks. The young in 
first plumage are reddish brown above, mottled and barred with dark 
brown and rufous; the wings are brown, broadly margined and tipped 
with rufous-brown; the tail is brown tipped with rufous, the outermost 
feathers much paler; the underparts are pale buff, thickly barred with 
brown; the bill is pale brown; and the legs and claws are also much 
paler than in the adult. 
