

WOOD SHKIKE, WOOD-CHAT. 



LANIUS RUPUS. 



Forehead and cheeks black ; nape bright rust colour ; back and wings varie- 

 gated with black, white, and reddish brown ; under parts white ; outer 

 tail feathers white, with a square black spot at the base on the inner web, 

 the two next with the black spot larger, and on both webs, the two middle 

 ones wholly black, the rest black tipped with white ; tail slightly rounded ; 

 second primary equal in length to the fifth. Female: all her colours dingy ; 

 breast marked transversely with fine brown lines. Length, seven and a half 

 inches. Eggs bluish white, spotted at the larger end with brown and 

 ash-grey. 



THE habits of this bird, which is a very rare visitant to 

 the British Isles, differ in no material respects from those 

 of the foregoing species. On the Continent it is more fre- 

 quent in the south than the north, where it frequents 

 trees rather than bushes, and generally places its nest, 

 which it constructs of twigs, moss, and white lichen, in 

 the forked branch of an oak. Like the rest of the family 

 it is migratory, coming and departing at the same time as 

 the other species. 



