THE WOODCHAT SHRIKE. 



out Northern Africa it is abundant in summer, arriving from the southern side of 

 the Sahara in March." 



To Great Britain this species is an irregular straggler, and principally on 

 migration ; nevertheless about thirty examples have been obtained in various parts 

 of England, chiefly in the southern and eastern counties, and, on two occasions, it 

 has been recorded as breeding at Freshwater, in the Isle of Wight. 



The adult male has the middle of the forehead, front of crown, lores, ear- 

 coverts, sides of neck, and back black ; an elongated white spot above each nostril ; 

 crown and nape bright chestnut ; lower back grey, shading into whitish on the 

 rump and upper tail- coverts ; wings black, the coverts and secondaries tipped with 

 white, the primaries white at the base ; tail black, tipped with white, the two 

 outermost feathers white at the base, and with white outer web ; the under surface 

 white, the flanks washed with buff; bill black; feet dark brown; iris hazel. The 

 female is duller in colouring than the male, the black parts suffused with rufous. 

 The young are russet-brown, streaked and spotted above with dark brown and 

 whitish, the wing- feathers broadly bordered and tipped with rufous ; the tail also 

 tipped with rufous, the outermost feathers pale ; under surface heavily barred with 

 brown ; bill yellowish horn brown ; feet darker horn brown. 



Like the Red-backed Shrike, this species haunts chiefly open or thinly timbered 

 country ; but in Algeria, from what Dixon says, it appears to frequent the open 

 spaces in forests of evergreen oak ; and Lord Lilford observes (Birds of North- 

 amptonshire, Vol. I, p. 78) " In Southern Spain, where the Woodchat is a very 

 common summer visitor, it is to be met with in all sorts of localities the outskirts 

 of woods, olive-groves, gardens, and occasionally the great open treeless plains, 

 where the tall thistles alone offer it a perch or look-out station. In general habits 

 it much resembles the Red-backed Shrike, but so far as I know does not attack 

 small birds, which show no fear of it as they do of the former bird." 



Seebohm, speaking of the food of the Woodchat, says that it " is composed 

 of beetles, grasshoppers, and many other insects, which, like the other Shrikes, it 

 will spit on thorns for the purpose of securing them until they are eaten. As 

 already remarked, it will also feed on small birds and mammals. It is often seen 

 on the wing, like a Flycatcher ; and when the capture of an insect is made it 

 returns to its old perching place, ever watchful for an object for a fresh sally into 

 the air." 



The nest of this species is placed in the fork of a low tree ; it is formed of 

 coarse bents and grasses, sometimes intermingled with cudweed fGnaphaliuniJ and 

 wool ; the lining is either formed of fine grasses and moss, or of the flowers of 

 cudweed mixed with a few leaves and a little vegetable wool. The eggs number 



VOL. ii. D 



