GREAT GREY SHRIKE. 169 



trees at some distance from the ground, making a nest of 

 bents, roots, and moss, lined with down and wool. The 

 eggs are from four to six in number, of a bluish or greyish 

 white colour, spotted over the large end with two shades 

 of light brown and ash. The length of the egg one inch 

 one line, by nine lines and a half in breadth. 



The Grey Shrike has been obtained in several southern 

 and western counties, in Surrey, Sussex, Wiltshire, Dor- 

 setshire, Devonshire, Worcestershire, and Cheshire ; and I 

 am informed by Mr. Thompson of Belfast, that it has oc- 

 curred in one or two instances in the North of Ireland. A 

 specimen shot near Belfast is in the collection of Dr. J. D. 

 Marshall. North of London, it has been killed in Hert- 

 fordshire, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Yorkshire, 

 Cumberland, Northumberland, and Durham. Dr. J. A. 

 Smith has recorded the capture of the Grey Shrike in 

 two counties of Scotland, Roxburghshire and Selkirkshire. 

 No Shrikes appear to have been seen either in the islands 

 of Orkney or Shetland ; but the Grey Shrike is included 

 among the birds of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Lapland, 

 Russia, and Germany. In Holland it is rare ; but it is 

 rather a common bird in France, and remains there through- 

 out the year, frequenting woods in summer, and open plains 

 in winter. It is an inhabitant of Spain, Provence, and 

 Italy. It is found also in Sicily, Malta, Fezzan, and east- 

 ward as far as Erzeroum. 



In the old male, the upper mandible is black, with a 

 projecting tooth near the point of the beak, which is 

 considerably curved ; under mandible yellowish brown at 

 the base, becoming brownish black at the end ; the nos- 

 trils hid by black hairs : the lore, or space between the 

 base of the beak and the eye, black ; the same colour 

 passing by a narrower band under the eye, and then ex- 

 panding, forms a black oval patch which covers the orifice 



