172 LANIAD^. 



another species of Butcher Bird, very similar in its habits 

 to the Grey Shrike last described, but is much more com- 

 mon, and visits this country only in the summer. It 

 arrives in Italy from Africa about the beginning of April, 

 and reaches England by the end of that month or early in 

 May, quitting it again in September. It frequents the 

 sides of woods and high hedge-rows, generally in pairs, and 

 may frequently be seen perched on the uppermost branch 

 of an isolated bush on the look-out for prey. The males 

 occasionally make a chirping noise, not unlike the note of 

 the Sparrow ; Montagu mentions having heard them give 

 utterance to a sort of song; and M. Vieillot says they 

 imitate the voice of small birds. The food of the Red- 

 backed Shrike is mice and probably shrews, small birds, 

 and various insects, particularly the common May-chaffer. 

 Its inclination to attack and its power of destroying little 

 birds has been doubted ; but it has been seen to kill a 

 bird as large as a Finch, is not unfrequently caught in the 

 clap-nets of London bird-catchers, having struck at their 

 decoy birds, and is recorded in the Linnaean Transactions 

 as having been seen in pursuit of a Blackbird.* Mr. 

 Hewitson says, " Seeing a Red-backed Shrike busy in 

 a hedge, I found, upon approaching it, a small bird, upon 

 which it had been operating, firmly fixed upon a blunt 

 thorn ; its head was torn off, and the body entirely 

 plucked." 



Mr. Blyth has observed, that where food is abundant, 

 this Shrike leaves the body and hard parts of insects thus 

 impaled, and only eats the softer abdomen. Portions of 

 fur or feathers, and other indigestible parts, when swallow- 

 ed, are afterwards ejected at the mouth by the Shrikes in 

 the same manner as by Falcons and Owls. 



The nest made by this species is very large in proportion 

 * Vol. xv. p. 14. 



