78 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



grown fence, or dense thorn or bramble bush ; one 

 nest I found in a tall furze bush. The eggs are 

 generally five, and vary a good deal in colour, but the 

 ground-colour is generally either a greenish white or 

 a creamy pink with a zone near the thick end, in the 

 former case of brown, and in the latter of red and 

 lilac blotches. 



24. WOODCHAT. 



Lanius rutilus. 



This Shrike, though exceedingly common in sum- 

 mer in many parts of Southern Europe, and not by 

 any means rare in Germany and Holland, is a scarce 

 bird in England ; and the only notice I have of it as 

 a visitor to Northamptonshire is in a letter from 

 Mr. A. G. Elliot, of Stamford, who says, " Woodchat, 

 Laniijis rufus: I saw one in Gore Piece close to 

 Duddington in the spring of 1869." Mr. Elliot is 

 well acquainted with our British birds, and is not, I 

 think, likely to have made a mistake about such a 

 distinctly marked and conspicuous bird as the Wood- 

 chat. Yarrell says that most of the occurrences of 

 this species in England have been in the southern 

 counties, and records two instances of its breeding in 

 the Isle of Wight. In Southern Spain, where the 

 Woodchat is a very common summer visitor, it is to 

 be met with in all sorts of localities the outskirts 

 of woods, olive-groves, gardens, and occasionally the 

 great open treeless plains, where the tall thistles 

 alone offer it a perch or look-out station. In general 

 habits it much resembles the Red-backed Shrike, but 



