354 BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 



and as far as the ear-coverts, the feathers are black ; 

 crown and back of neck grey ; back and wing-coverts 

 bright reddish-brown ; wing-quills dull black mar- 

 gined with reddish-brown ; upper tail-coverts red- 

 dish-grey ; tail-quills, in centre, black tipped with 

 white, rest white on the basal half, and black from 

 thence to the end, which is slightly tipped with white ; 

 chin grey ; breast, belly, and under-parts of a rosy 

 tinge, with the exception of the under tail-coverts, 

 which are white ; legs, toes, and claws dusky-black. 



The female is very much less conspicuous in 

 her plumage. Her beak is not so dark in colour ; 

 over her eye is a yellowish-white streak ; her upper 

 parts dull rusty-brown, tinged with grey on the 

 neck and tail-coverts ; chin, throat, breast, and under- 

 parts greyish-white, barred with greyish-brown. 



Situation and Locality. In high rough hedges, 

 thorn bushes in woods, and on rough commons. 

 Our illustration is from a photograph of a nest in 

 a slight thorn bush, surrounded by hazels and big 

 trees in a small Surrey spinney, where I meet with 

 a nest every year regularly. I found a Red-backed 

 Shrike's nest in a low bramble bush, intermixed 

 with rushes, a few years ago close to London. The 

 nest was not more than eighteen inches from the 

 ground and within a few feet of a much-used coun- 

 try lane. The cock bird was so bold that he came 

 within four feet of me as I stood looking at his mate 

 sitting upon her eggs. Breeds pretty generally over 

 England, with the exception of the extreme north, 

 and in Wales, but is rarely met within Scotland or 

 Ireland. 



Materials. Slender twigs, dead grass, stalks, 

 dead weeds, honeysuckle stems and stalks, roots, 

 wool, moss, and occasionally feathers, lined with 



