KKD-BACKED SHKIKK 



PASSERES. 



LANUh.E. 



Lanius collurio, Linnaeus*. 

 THE EED-BACKED SHRIKE. 



Lanlus collurio. 



The lower figure of the engraving represents the male, 

 and the upper figure the ordinary appearance of the female, 

 of the Red-backed Shrike, a well-known and regular, though 

 somewhat local, summer-visitor to this country. It arrives 

 in Italy from Africa about the beginning of April, and 

 reaches England by the end of that month or early in May, 

 leaving again in September. It frequents the sides of 

 woods and high hedge-rows, generally in pairs, and may 

 frequently be seen perched on the uppermost branch of an 

 isolated bush on the look-out for prey. The males have a 

 chirping note, not unlike that of the Sparrow, wdiich is 

 * Syst. Nat. EJ. 12, i. p. 136 (17t)6). 



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