ri THE RED-BACKED SHRIKE 
insects, especially the stag-beetle and grasshopper, though in its 
natural state it will capture and destroy any birds inferior to 
itself in strength and courage. Its name Lanius (Latin for 
butcher) and. Butcher-bird were given to it from its habit 
of impaling beetles and small birds on thorns in the vicinity 
of its nest. Its flight is peculiar, being composed of a series 
of dips, like that of the Wagtail ; and when it quits its perch on 
the summit of one tall tree to fly to another, it drops and rises 
again so as to form a curve like that of a loose rope hung from two 
tall masts. Another peculiarity of the Shrike is a remarkable power 
of imitating the song of other birds, which it is said to exercise in 
order to obtain its food more easily, by beguiling the nestlings of 
the smaller birds into answering it by a chirrup, and so betraying 
their retreat. The notes which it has been observed to imitate are 
those of the Nightingale, Robin, Swallow, and Stone-chat. Its 
proper note is harsh, resembling somewhat that of the Kestrel, 
Shake-shake! the call note is fruit! Of the Lesser Grey Shrike, 
Lanius minor, there have been few occurrences in these Islands. 
LESSER GREY SHRIKE 
LANIUS MINOR 
Grey above: breast and flanks roseate; wing-bar white. 
OF this species only four occurrences recorded until recently—in 
Scilly Islands, Norfolk and Devon. 
THE RED-BACKED SHRIKE 
LANIUS COLLURIO 
Head, nape, shoulders and upper tail-coverts ash-grey, a black band reaching 
from the gape to beyond the ears; back, scapulars, and wing-coverts 
reddish brown; throat white, passing into rose-red on the breast and 
flanks ; wings blackish, edged with reddish brown: tail nearly even at 
the end, four middle feathers black tipped with reddish grey, the rest 
white from the base through two-thirds of their length, the other third 
black with a white tip; second primary longer than the fifth. Female— 
upper plumage rusty brown, tinged near the nape and tail with ash- 
grey ; lower white, the sides barred transversely by narrow curved lines ; 
outer webs and tips of the outer tail feathers yellowish white, four middle 
ones uniform dusky brown. Length seven inches; breadth eleven 
inches. Eggs cream-coloured, greenish, or delicate grey variously 
mottled and spotted with light brown and ash-grey. 
Tue Red-backed Shrike, though not generally diffused throughout 
England, is to certain localities a far from uncommon wanderer, 
but for some reason it has been scarce in 1908. In the wooded 
