380 THE RED-BACKED SHRIKE. 



The Red-Backed Shrike is a summer visitant to this country, and 

 is tolerably common. Its winter quarters seem to be situated in Africa, 

 and it reaches us at the end of April or the beginning of May, passing 

 through Italy on its passage. 



During the time of its residence it may often be seen flitting about 

 the tops of hedges and small trees, evidently in search of its prey, and 



may be recognized even at a considerable 

 distance by its habit of wagging its tail up 

 and down whenever it settles, in a man- 

 ner very similar to that of the wagtails. 

 Usually it is seen in pairs, but when the 

 eggs are laid, the male bird is generally 

 engaged in procuring food, while the 

 mother bird stays at home and attends 

 to her domestic affairs. 



The food of the Red-Backed Shrike 



"^^x^ T^^^^„.,^.^ o r.r..^ consists chiefly of the larger insects, such 

 The Loggertiead Shrike. . *' . , -, -, n i 



as grasshoppers, beetles, and chaiers, and 



it is in the habit of impaling them on the thorns near its nest, prob- 

 ably to save the mother bird the trouble of going to look for her 

 own meals. 



The nest of this Shrike is situated in hedges or bushes, generally 

 from five to ten feet from the ground, the average elevation being 

 about seven feet. It is large, rather clumsy, and very easily seen 

 through the foliage, being made of thick grass-stems, moss, and roots 

 on the exterior, and lined with very fine grasses and hair. In some 

 places the nests are quite common, and I have found three in a hedge 

 surrounding a single field of no very great extent. The eggs are 

 generally five in number, and are rather variable in coloring, their 

 ground-color being always white, tinged in some cases with blue, in 

 others with green, and in a few specimens with rusty red. The spots 

 with which they are marked are quite as variable, sometimes being 

 numerous, dark, and gathered into a ring at the large end of the egg, 

 and sometimes only gray and light brown, scattered irregularly. In 

 all cases, however, they are gathered upon the large end of the egg. 



In the adult male the head, neck, and upper parts of the shoulders 

 are pearly gray, with a black stripe across the base of the beak and run- 

 ning through the eye. The back and wing-coverts are ruddy chestnut, 

 fading into reddish gray upon the upper tail-coverts. The quill feath- 

 ers of the wings are black, edged with red upon their outer webs, and 

 the quill feathers of the tail are white at the basal half, and the remain- 

 der of each feather is black tipped with a very narrow line of white. 

 The chin and under tail-coverts are white, and the rest of the under sur- 

 face is pale rusty red. The strongly-notched and hooked beak is deep 



