162 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



doubtedly beetles (which swarm to a incredible extent in those 

 climates), butterflies, grasshoppers, and other insects. The 

 flight of this Shrike, like that of its congeners, is undulatory, 

 but easy and comparatively noiseless; and it skims through the 

 air like a Partridge for a moment or two before it alights on 

 some perch, on to which it drops with a scuffle of the wings. 

 The song of the Lesser Grey Shrike is a not unmusical 

 chatter, something like the twitter of the Swallow or Starling, 

 but louder and mixed with some harsher notes. It has a 

 variety of notes, some very harsh, which are probably alarm 

 notes, and others somewhat plaintive, which may be call-notes. 

 This bird is said occasionally to impale insects on thorns, as 

 most of its congeners are in the habit of doing." 



Nest. Like that of other Shrikes, composed of moss with 

 twigs and rootlets, and lined with wool, hair and a few feathers. 

 Mr. Seebohm describes one taken by himself in Greece as 

 follows : " With the exception of a twig or two, a piece of 

 flag-like rush, and a little wool at the foundation, the whole 

 nest is composed of a downy-leaved cudweed {Gnapkalittm 

 dioicum), some in flower and some in seed, and most of them 

 puled up by the root." 



Eggs. From four to seven in number. The ground-colour 

 varies from greenish-white to pale greenish-blue. In both 

 these types of egg the markings are much the same, being 

 brown or greenish-brown, with the underlying markings of 

 light purplish-grey very distinctly indicated. In nearly every 

 case the markings cluster more thickly round the larger end of 

 the egg, but sometimes the whole of the egg is spotted. Axis, 

 o'Q-i'o inch; diam., o'7-o'75. 



THE GREAT GREY SHRIKE LANIUS EXCUBITOR. 



Lanius excubitor, Linn., S. N., i., p. 135 (1766) ; Macg., Br. B., 

 iii., p. 492 (i8-io); Dresser, B. Eur., iii., p. 375, pi. 145 

 (1871); Newt. ed. Yarr., i., p. 199 (1872); Seebohm, Br. 

 B., i., p. 598 (1883); B. O. U. List Br. B., p. 37 (1883); 

 Gadow, Cat. B. Brit. Mus., viii., p. 237 (1883); Lilford, 

 Col. Fig. Br. B., pt. viii. (1888) ; Saunders, Man., p. 139 

 (1889). 

 Adult Male. General colour above blue-grey 01 French-grey ; 



