THE SHRIKES 1635 



family in its haunts in Central Europe and the British Isles. Those individuals 

 that visit England (for in Scotland the bird is very rare) apparently journey to 

 their summer quarters by way of the valley of the Rhine. The red-backed shrike 

 arrives somewhat later than the majority of summer migrants. Each pair be- 

 comes established in a certain area which it rarely if ever leaves; the male bird being 

 conspicuous as he perches on some tall spray of hawthorn. We have never seen 

 this shrike build in a tree of any kind, and it seems invariably to build in a hedge 

 or low bush; the nest, although this circumstance is exceptional, being at times 

 placed in a tiny bush barely eighteen inches from the ground. The nest is built of 

 dry stalks and moss, lined with fibrous roots and a little hair; the eggs vary, being 

 sometimes yellowish white with markings of olive and lilac, and sometimes salmon 

 colored marked with light red. No sooner has this shrike reared its young than it 

 prepares to leave Britain, hurrying south in advance of many other summer birds, 

 in order that it may perform the operation of molt in the heat of a tropical winter. 

 So long as it remains in England, it always exhibits the same alert character vigi- 

 lant, resourceful, always ready to anticipate danger. It is a bird of rapid flight and 

 considerable agility, and when in the act of seizing some winged prey, shoots for- 

 ward like an arrow released from the bow, and rarely misses the quarry. It will 

 swoop upon a humblebee, impaling the unfortunate insect with perfect deftness 

 upon the sharpest thorn available. Although the red-backed shrike is generally 

 content to feed upon insects, it has been known to attack a lizard, and is partial to 

 small birds, field mice, and frogs, and sometimes attacks the decoys of bird catchers 

 like the great gray shrike. The adult male has the head, back, and sides of the 

 neck bluish gray; the middle of the back and scapulars dull brick red; the wings 

 dull black, edged with rufous; the tail black and white; the forehead, lores, and ear 

 coverts black; the chin white; and the under parts rose color. The female is brown- 

 ish gray above with a reddish-brown tail; the under parts being dull white closely 

 barred with transverse brown markings. 



The woodchat shrike (L. pomeranus) is rather a rare bird in many 

 Sh ik parts of its summer quarters in Central Europe, although it is the 

 commonest of all the shrikes in Portugal. Preferring to nest amidst 

 extensive orchards, it is absent from forest-land, and frequents sunny valleys and 

 the gentle slopes of low hills commanding a southern aspect rather than more ele- 

 vated and exposed situations. A trained eye soon learns to recognize the woodchat 

 at a considerable distance, and we have often pointed out to our companions a wood- 

 chat when the bird appeared to the naked eye, or even to the binoculars, to be 

 merely a small white patch on the side of a bush. This is easily explained by the 

 fact that the woodchat, true to the watchful character of its congeners, invariably 

 perches (at least during migration, to which alone these remarks apply) upon 

 the outside of a bush, its white breast facing outward toward the quarter from which 

 it apprehends the approach of danger. The flight is strong and undulating. Dur- 

 ing migration these birds travel constantly in the wake of their fellows, and al- 

 though two days may often interrupt the migration, when it is resumed, it will be 

 found that shrikes adhered to the line taken by the advance guard. In Eastern 

 Algeria this shrike breeds in numbers on the hillsides, constructing its nest almost 



