118 PASSERES. LANIADJE. 



Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, Devonshire, Worcester- 

 shire, and Cheshire ; and in one or two instances, 

 in the north of Ireland. North of London it has 

 been killed in Hertfordshire, Suffolk, Cambridge- 

 shire, Norfolk, Yorkshire, Cumberland, Northum- 

 berland, and Durham. Sir W. Jardine speaks of 

 it as a rare bird in Scotland, a few instances only 

 of its capture in the south of that kingdom having 

 come to his knowledge. It is spread over the con- 

 tinent, however, from Lapland to Spain and Italy. 

 Its appearance with us, as in the south of Europe, 

 is in the winter months; once or twice only it 

 has been observed in England in summer, pro- 

 bably through some accidental circumstance ; and 

 there is no reason to believe it ever breeds with 

 us. Mr. Rennie, in the " Architecture of Birds," 

 speaks of its nest as common in Kent, but this 

 is probably a mistake. Its winter residence with 

 us is not so infrequent a thing, but that the bird 

 has obtained a recognition among the common 

 people, and numerous local names attest their 

 familiarity with it. Thus it is known by the ap- 

 pellations of Butcher-bird, Mattagass, Mountain 

 Magpie, Murdering Pie, Shreek, and Shrike ; and 

 by the ancient British it was named Cigydd 

 Mawr. 



We have alluded to the interesting analogy 

 between the Shrikes and the Falcons ; .nor is this 

 so recondite as to have been remarked only by 

 the observant man of science. In the days of 

 falconry the species before us was actually sup- 

 posed to be a degenerate sort of hawk, as appears 

 from the curious notices of it in the books of that 

 age. In " The Booke of Falconrie or Hawk- 

 inge " (London, 1611), we find " the Sparow- 



