RED-BACKED SHRIKE 



CHESTER FLUSHER LESSER BUTCHER BIRD MURDERING 

 PIE JACK BAKER WHISKEY JOHN NINE KILLER. 



PLATE XXVIII. 

 Lanius collurio LINN^IUS. 



THE nest is placed, without much attempt at concealment, 

 in a hedge or bush. It is large for the size of the bird, 

 being from six to seven inches across, somewhat deep like a 

 cup, and is composed of the stalks of plants, grass, wool, and 

 moss. It is lined with bents, wool, and with hair. The edge 

 on the top rather projects over the side. A nest of this 

 species was taken at Swanscombe, in Kent, in the year 

 1848, on a high branch of an elm, twenty feet from the 

 ground. 



The eggs of this bird are usually more or less spotted with 

 red. In general they are pale reddish white, spotted with two 

 shades of darker red and reddish brown, and the base is 

 encircled by a belt, formed of an irregular conglomeration of 

 the same. Occasionally they are pale bluish white, or white, 

 and sometimes greenish white, spotted with brown and. grey 

 or rufous ; they are five or six in number. The band already 

 alluded to has been in some cases found at the narrow end. 



They vary also in size and shape. 



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