170 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



stone, or chalk) is attractive, though not absolutely necessary 

 to this Shrike, which is also affected indirectly by climate. 

 The * tall tangled hedge-row ' or * Bullfinch,' so often insisted 

 upon as attractive to this bird, is certainly not essential to its 

 welfare, although the Butcher-bird is undoubtedly fond of these 

 big hedges with their long thorns for impaling prey, and the 

 convenient nesting sites they afford, but they will not of them- 

 selves induce the Shrike to adopt a particular district. In 

 North Oxfordshire and in Northamptonshire tall hedges are 

 common, but this Shrike is not ; and I gather from a recent 

 writer that even in 'High Leicestershire' the Butcher-bird is 

 decidedly scarce. On the other hand, open commons, and 

 huge wild sides of sheltered valleys, if they are furnished with 

 scattered bushes and overgrown clumps of the same, are often 

 favourite localities. It likes also to haunt the neighbourhood 

 of gardens, and late in July and in August it often brings its 

 young brood into both pleasure- and kitchen-gardens." 



The note of the present species is a kind of chack> generally 

 uttered as the bird sits on its perch, and is accompanied by a 

 jerk of the head to one side or the other, Besides the small 

 birds spoken of above, the Red-backed Shrike feeds principally 

 on insects, and devours humble-bees, as well as other kinds of 

 bees and wasps, but it will also catch lizards and mice. 



Nest. A ragged and untidy structure, composed of tangled 

 moss and roots, lined with dry grasses, wool, and a little 

 hair; it is generally found in a thorny hedge or a thickly- 

 wooded dell. Judging from the specimens exhibited in the 

 British Museum, the young birds must have some difficulty in 

 keeping in the nest provided for them, as soon as they get 

 to any size. 



Eggs. From four to six in number, and very variable in 

 colour and markings. The ground-colour is mainly of two 

 types, creamy-white or greenish-white. The former varies from 

 a rich cream-colour to a clay-white, or even rufescent. The 

 markings consist of clearly defined spots of rufous, with numer- 

 ous and distinct underlying spots of violet-grey. There is in 

 most cases a tendency to form a ring, generally, but not invari- 

 ably, at the large end of the egg, which is sometimes covered 

 by confluent spots, which form a cloud. In the greenish-white 



