L A N I U S. 



27 



eastern sea ; for the species under consideration is 

 more numerous, and also extends further north on 

 the west side of the island than on the east side. 



As is the case with very many birds, especially 

 with those which are only visitants and are local, the 

 habits of the red-backed shrike have not been ob- 

 served with the requisite degree of care. It has 

 been unfortunate for the natural history of the British 

 inlands, that those who have had opportunities of 

 observing animals in free nature have seldom been 

 writers, while those who have been employed to write 

 have as seldom been observers. In consequence of 

 this very many of the printed descriptions of British 

 birds have been compilations from foreign describers, 

 where the physical characters of the country are 

 very different from what they are with us, and the 

 consequence is, that they do not answer correctly to 

 what is observed in this country, and thus our written 

 history and our living nature are very often at 

 variance with each other ; and it will take more time 

 and labour to correct the blunders which have thus 

 been committed, than it would do if the subject were 

 unstudied, and free from this contamination. 



The red-backed shrike is a very lively bird ; and 

 it so far resembles the birds of prey that the female 

 is considerably larger than the male. The female is 

 seven inches in length and twelve in the stretch of 

 the wings, and weighs an ounce and a quarter; while 

 the dimensions of the male are six and ten inches, 

 and the weight only one ounce. The prevailing 

 colours of both birds are reddish brown on the upper 

 part, and soft greyish white on the under ; but the 

 tinder part of the male has a tinge of rose colour, 

 while that of the female, still preserving the slight 

 resemblance to birds of prey, is marked by dusky 

 lines, as is the case with the larger grey species. This 

 one stands accused of sometimes killing little birds ; 

 but if it does so, those birds do not show the same 

 hostility to it which they generally show to enemies, 

 whether of themselves or of their nests. The little 

 birds may frequently be seen collecting their num- 

 bers in order to annoy the smaller hawks as killers 

 of birds, or the cuckoo as a violator of nests ; but 

 they do not thus annoy the red-backed shrike, or 

 indeed any of the shrikes. We may hence conclude 

 that these birds are not habitual enemies of the 

 smaller ones, otherwise the habitual instinct which 

 displays itself against such as are known to be 

 enemies would be displayed against them. Still 

 these birds are exceedingly active ; and when they 

 are watching for their prey they are in a state of 

 constant excitement. As is the habit of all the 

 genus, they frequent hedges, coppices, and the mar- 

 pins of woods ; and while they sit perched on a twig, 

 they keep their body worked into that excitement 

 which can enable them instantly to dart upon that 

 against which they proceed. In this state the tail 

 is expanded, the wings partially spread, the bill open, 

 and the eye expressive of the utmost irritability. 

 It has been reported of them that when thus excited, 

 and no prey comes in their way, they can charm 

 the fledglings of the small hedge birds within their 

 reach, by imitating the calls of the parents ; but the 

 truth is, this matter has not been clearly established ; 

 and in many respects the ash-coloured shrike has 

 been mixed up with the history of this one. 



The nest of the red-backed shrike is very carefully 

 hidden, and it is also neatly made. It is usually 

 placed in a close hedge or bush, or in one of those 



short but thickly branched trees which are so common 

 on the margins of forests. Externally, it is corn- 

 posed of mosses and vegetable fibres, mixed with wool ; 

 and the inner part is composed of hair, very neatly 

 interlaced together. The eggs are five or six in 

 number, having the ground colour whitish, but with 

 the same blush of rosy tinge which characterises the 

 under part of the male bird ; and they are marked 

 with spots of reddish brown. The young, as is the 

 case with most birds which are for the greater part 

 of their time upon the wing, remain long in the nest, 

 and are diligently fed and carefully attended to by 

 their parents. When they quit the nest, they bear 

 a good deal of resemblance to the female, only they 

 are not so red on the upper part. 



The red-backed shrike, though very energetic, and 

 much upon the wing in short Hights, is far from beigg 

 a graceful flyer. It gets through the air by a suc- 

 cession of leaps, in each of which it mounts consider- 

 ably upward, and drops down again at the end ; and 

 it never rises into high flight while it is on its feeding 

 rounds. The chief cause of this kind of flight appears 

 to be the shortness and breadth of the wings, which 

 prevent the bird from floating easily, so as to renew 

 its impetus without descending below the line of its 

 motion. When it migrates, as it unquestionably does, 

 it in all probability takes a higher flight ; because we 

 could hardly imagine a bird to cross even the nar- 

 rowest part of the Channel, with such a low and leaping 

 flight as the shrike exhibits in those places where it 

 takes its abode. 



WOOD-CHAT SHRIKE (L. rutilus). This is a more 

 powerfully-winged, and altogether a more energetic 

 and discursive bird, than the last-mentioned species. 

 In Britain it is rare ; and though its nest has been 

 found in Norfolk (which by the way is a remarkable 

 county for birds), it can hardly be regarded as any 

 other than a straggler, inasmuch as neither the nest 

 nor the bird have been observed regularly every year. 

 On many parts of the continent of Europe it is by 

 no means rare in the summer season, but it disappears 

 rather early in the autumn; and is understood, like 

 many of the summer migrants of Europe, to take up 

 its abode in Egypt during the winter. As this spe- 

 cies does not resort regularly to the British islands, it 

 does not take a definite locality, but is generally found 

 in those situations to which a side wind is most likely 

 to blow it from the continent. 



It measures about the same length as the female of 

 the red-backed shrike, namely, about seven inches ; 

 but its wings are eighteen inches in stretch, which is 

 three inches to each wing more than in that bird ; of 

 course it is much more capable of extended flight, 

 and the style of its flying is altogether far more 

 graceful. Its bill is dusky with a bluish tinge, 

 stoutly made, very firm in the texture, and very de- 

 cidedly notched towards the tip ; the legs are dusky, 

 and the claws black, very firm, pointed, and much 

 hooked, so as to resemble in form the talons of a 

 bird of prey, but they are much shorter in propor- 

 tion to the size of the bird, and are to be regarded 

 as perching or climbing claws rather than as killing 

 ones. The forehead, or band down each side of the 

 neck to the shoulders, the lesser coverts of the wings, 

 and part of the quills, are dusky, or even in some 

 instances black ; the roots of the primary quills and the 

 points of the secondary ones, and also the feathers on 

 the scapulars, are white. The hind part of this head is 

 rust- coloured, and the back dark ash ; the throat, front 



