THE RED-BACKED SHRIKE. 217 



THE BED-BACKED SHRIKE 



(Lanius colliirio.} 

 \ LATE XVI. FIGURE V. 



THIS species is not uncommon in the southern counties of England, 

 but becomes rare towards the northern, and is not found in either 

 Scotland or Ireland. It is only a summer visitor to our shores, arriving 

 about the beginning of April, and departing again in September. Like 

 the Grey Shrike it affixes to thorns the small animals and insects it 

 captures for food, either for the purpose of the more easily tearing 

 them in pieces, or, as some have supposed, of attracting small birds to 

 its neighbourhood. We have now before us some thorns with bees 

 affixed to the points, most probably by either this species or the last. 

 They were procured from a hedge adjoining a small group of trees 

 and bushes near Minster, in the Isle of Sheppey, and previous to being 

 broken off had been observed with a number of similar ones for 

 upwards of a week. They do not appear to have received the slightest 

 injury, any further than that occasioned by the entry of the thorn 

 into the thorax, a fact that seems to favour the supposition that they 

 have simply been used as baits. This bird has been known to drag 

 young Pheasants through the bars of the breeding coops, and to attack 

 the decoy birds of fowlers. On one occasion it was seen in pursuit of 

 a Blackbird. 



The Red-backed Shrike is not a neat or careful builder; it forms a 

 large and loosely-compacted nest of twigs, grass, and moss, and lines 

 it with wool. The eggs, five or six in number, vary greatly in colour; 

 in general they are pale reddish white, spotted with red and reddish 

 brown; sometimes they are bluish white, spotted with brown, red, or 

 grey. The old birds are very noisy if any person approaches the nest. 

 Meyer says, "We have seen them help the young ones out of the nest 

 for the purpose of hiding them in the thicket beneath; and the moment 

 they have reached the ground, not another chirp is heard from the 

 nestlings, which have apparently received a signal to be quiet, although 



