THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 



Carter, who stated it was in good plumage (Field, igth 

 May 1888). And the latest notice of its occurrence was 

 communicated to me by Mr. Thomas Machen of Bridlington, 

 who had sent to him for identification a female specimen 

 caught in June 1903, near Boynton. 



GREAT GREY SHRIKE. 

 Lanius excubitor 



Winter visitant, in limited numbers, chiefly on the coast line ; 

 remains through winter, departing in spring. 



Probably the first mention of this bird in connection 

 with Yorkshire is contained in Ray's " Synopsis," 1713, where 

 it is referred to under the name of " The Greater Butcher 

 Bird, or Mattagasse, Eboracensibus." The earliest known 

 Yorkshire specimen that I am aware of is a female in the 

 Burton Agnes collection, shot near Malton in 1836. 



Thomas Allis, 1844, wrote : 



Lanius excubitor. Great Grey Shrike Is not uncommon near 

 Doncaster in winter ; several specimens have been obtained near 

 Sheffield ; it is occasionally met with near Huddersfield and York ; 

 it is rare in most other districts, one specimen only being known in 

 the neighbourhood of Barnsley and of Burlington. 



Allis's remarks as regards the scarcity of this species at 

 Burlington (Bridlington) were probably due to the paucity 

 of observers in his day. At the present time on the coast, 

 and especially in Holderness, the Great Grey Shrike is observed 

 almost annually as an autumn immigrant, arriving as a rule 

 during the latter days of October ; in some years it may 

 almost be called common, such being the case in 1880, as 

 evidenced by the observations of the British Association 

 Migration Committee, while in 1892 no less than twenty were 

 seen near Kilnsea on the i5th of October, and seven were 

 noticed the next day. Off Scarborough one was taken on 

 board a smack in October 1889, an d I have a specimen in 

 my collection which was brought in on 25th October 1891, 



