THE WOOD-CHAT SHRIKE. 241 



The Wood-Chat, or Wood Shrike. 



(Lanius Rufus.) Lath. 



This is the rarest of the three British shrikes. In habits it is 

 similar to the others, and about the size of the red-backed. The 

 back of the head and neck are reddish-brown ; lower part of 

 the back, deep grey ; rump and tail-coverts, white ; throat and 

 under plumage, white, tinged with yellow ; back, black ; 

 scapulars, white, forming a distinct patch ; wing-coverts, 

 brownish-black. The outer feathers of the tail white, with a 

 black bar upon the inner web ; the next, black, having their 

 base and tips white ; the centre feathers black. It has also 

 the distinctive black patch on the sides of the head, only the 

 black runs round the crown, leaving a white band between 

 the front of it and the bill. The female similar, only less 

 distinctly marked. Unlike the others, it builds on trees 

 instead of bushes — preferring the oak — and lays four or five 

 ■eggs, richly coloured and spotted in zones. The eggs of the 

 three shrikes form a beautiful and isolated group — as different 

 from those of other birds as they are like each other. 



FAMILY III. 



Merulid^e, or Turdus. The Thrushes. 



The affinity between the shrikes and the thrushes shows 

 itself in the missel thrush, whose colour of eggs, partial tooth- 

 bill, and rapacity, approaches nearer to the larger shrike ; while 

 the short-legged thrushes are more closely allied to the sub-family 

 laniana. But, instead of the short, strong, toothed-bill that 

 characterise the shrikes, those of the thrushes are longer and 

 more slender, with the notch or tooth less prominent, but 

 •quite sufficient to take firm hold of food, such as worms, snails, 

 fruit, and berries. Their legs and feet have a decided 

 superiority over the laniadce — being more muscular, and as 

 well adapted for hopping on the ground as perching on trees. 



