254 THE GREAT GREY-SHRIKE 



to place; while others were on the wing or perched on the highest 

 twigs in hedgerows; one on a telegraph wire. "A handsome male 

 strove hard to catch a robin, both chaser and chased threading their 

 way through several clumps of broom and gorse ; finally the robin got 

 into an elder bush, and the shrike just above him ready to seize ; 

 luckily for the intended victim, he managed to drop into a hole in 

 some loose rock-work. The shrike watched the spot, his head on one 

 side, most intently, like a cat ; but after a time gave it up, perching 

 on the handle of a spade, from which point of vantage he speedily 

 pounced on a goldcrest, seizing it by the nape, and the last I saw of 

 him was trying to fasten it on the spikes of a wire fence." l 



Mr. Cordeaux goes on to point out a remarkable fact, which has 

 been commented on by several writers, that in spite of the destruction 

 wrought by the shrikes among the smaller birds, they showed no 

 dread of them, and appeared to regard them more as privileged guests 

 than as deadly foes in singular contrast to the commotion caused 

 by the appearance of a hawk among them. 



When rested and refreshed after their journey, each shrike 

 makes its way inland. Most of those which visit us appear to be 

 immature, and lead a solitary, wandering life during the winter, 

 seldom staying for more than a day or so in any one place. They 

 rarely penetrate into the western counties, and generally leave our 

 shores early in the spring. Six were seen near the Spurn Lighthouse 

 on 17th February 1881, which must have been about to cross the 

 North Sea (Birds of Yorkshire, i. p. 139), but individuals have been 

 met with as late as April and even early in May, though the majority 

 have disappeared by the end of March. So much for the great grey- 

 shrike as a British bird. 



To know the bird thoroughly one must follow it up into its 

 breeding haunts. Probably all, or nearly all, those which visit us have 

 their home in the north of Europe, and are regular migrants, moving 

 southward every year in October to milder climates, and returning 



1 Naturalist, 1803, p. 11. 



