LANIAD^. 73 



informed me that he discovered some years ago the 

 remains of a Stonechat impaled upon a thorn-tree 

 by a Shrike of this species. This gentleman is cer- 

 tain that the bird had been ' butchered ' by Laniiis 

 collurio and not by L. excjibitor, as he shot one of 

 the Red-backs, which was disporting upon the tree, 

 and, upon dissection, it proved to have been eating 

 part of the Stonechat. Mr. Hewitson says : ' Seeing 

 a Red-backed Shrike busy in a hedge, I found, upon 

 approaching it, a small bird, upon which it had been 

 operating, firmly fixed upon a blunt thorn ; its head 

 was torn off and its body entirely plucked.' It is 

 said by some ornithologists that Lanius collurio does 

 not 'spike' his prey; but the above facts prove the 

 contrary, though perhaps this is not its usual habit. 



To enumerate all the localities in which this bird 

 has been obtained would be unnecessary, since it is 

 a common bird in both counties during the summer 

 months. 



It usually leaves this neighbourhood in the middle 

 of September, but I have seen it as late as October. 

 A friend lately told me that he believed the last 

 of our migratory birds to leave this country were : 

 the Red-backed Shrike, the Cuckoo, and the Wry- 

 neck : he has observed all these birds as late as 

 the middle of October. 



Mr. Gould has taken this bird's nest near West 

 Drayton, in 1858. 



