218 TEE SMALLER BRITISH MRDS. 



tin- parent birds, perched in a tree at a little distance, keep np a 

 continual clamour." This species has a chirping note, resembling that 

 of the Sparrow, and, like its larger relation, is said to imitate in a 

 broken manner the songs of other birds. 



The male has the head and neck grey; the back and wing coverts 

 chesnut brown; the chin nearly white; and the breast and sides rose- 

 coloured. A band of black runs from the beak to behind the ear* 

 The wings are black, edged with brownish red. The tail feathers are 

 dusky black, with the larger half of the outer ones white nearest the 

 body. The female has the upper parts reddish brown, and the lower 

 greyish white, with waved dusky lines. 



THE WOODCHAT, 



(Lanius rufus.) 



PLATE XVI. PIG ORB VI. 



THIS is another species of Shrike, or Butcher Bird, but of much 

 rarer occurrence in this country than either of the two already described, 

 the whole number of specimens obtained only amounting to about a 

 dozen. On the continent it visits Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, 

 Greece, and Holland, but is never met with in the northern countries. 

 In Africa, where it is said to be a permanent resident, it is found in 

 Egypt, Senegal, and the Cape of Good Hope. 



In form the Woodchat resembles the Great Shrike, but it is much 

 inferior in size. Its plumage, though somewhat similar to that bird's, 

 is in general much darker, the forehead and back being black, and 

 the crown of the head and nape of the neck rich chesnut red. 



In its habits this species resembles the other Shrikes; its food is of 

 the same kind, and it deals with it in a similar butcher-like fashion, 

 On one occasion an individual was seen fixing a Yellow-Hammer on a 

 thorn. Its nest, as described by Mr. Hoy, in London's "Magazine of 

 Natural History," is composed externally of sticks, wool, and moss, 

 and lined with fine grass and wool. It is placed in the fork of a 

 projecting branch of an oak, or other large tree. The eggs, four or 

 five in number, are rather smaller than those of the Red-backed Shrike, 

 and vary much in colour and markings; in some the ground is pale 



