RED-BACKED SHRIKE. 183 
growth, and is generally seen in pairs. Mr. Mudie’s account 
of the locality of this species is one of the most extraordinary 
of the many extraordinary ones he has promulgated. He says 
that though it is a short-winged bird, and therefore ‘gets 
through the air with more labour’ than many of the birds 
which are found in the south-eastern part of the island; it 
‘leaves the gravelly and clayey districts, and takes up its 
abode in a central zone, beginning at the channel and termi- 
nating at the light soils.’ He has himself correctly described 
this as ‘the most remarkable part of its natural history;— 
‘the climate of that zone is warm, and the soil peculiarly 
adapted to the habits of the larger beetles, which seem the 
natural and peculiar food of these birds.’ He very properly 
adds that the ‘habits of the Red-backed Shrike deserve to be 
studied.’ Its name of ‘Flusher,’ he considers to be a corrup- 
tion of ‘Flasher,’ from its looking like a ‘flash of fire’ in 
darting through the air; but I think it much more probable 
that it is derived from ‘Flesher,’ another word for a butcher, 
the name of the bird itself. 
The Red-backed Shrike arrives in this country at the end 
of April or the beginning of May, and quits it again in Sep- 
tember or October. 
This species also seems to be distinguished for affection 
towards its partner and its young. The following anecdote, 
illustrative of this its disposition, is recorded by Meyer:—‘A 
male Red-backed Shrike was caught in a garden by a cat; 
the gardener, who saw the circumstance, succeeded in rescuing 
it from the animal the very moment it happened, in time 
to save its life. It was put into a cage and placed in a 
sitting-room, in the house close by. There were several persons 
in the room at the time; but notwithstanding their moving 
about, the female, its companion, came in at the window, 
settled on the cage, and was secured by one of the party, 
without attempting to fly away; they were subsequently both 
placed in the same cage.’ He further adds—‘the female will 
hardly fly from the nest when she has eggs; and if disturbed 
after the young are hatched, both parents remain either in 
the bush that contains the nest, or on a neighbouring tree, 
until the danger is past; and, to draw off attention from the 
spot, they keep moving in opposite directions, uttering all the 
while their alarm-cry. We have seen them help the young 
ones out of the nest for the purpose of hiding them in the 
thicket beneath; and the moment they have reached the 
