2 3 8 



Wild Life in Wales 



fully fledged Pied Wagtail for quite a long time, the quarry 

 only eventually escaping by flying in my direction, when 

 the " butcher " was driven off. On another occasion, one 

 pounced upon, and almost instantly killed, an adult Thrush, 

 within a few yards of me. Another fearlessly attacked a 

 Bank Vole that was descending a small pine tree, where 

 it had been robbing a Thrush's nest, and as expeditiously 

 cracked its skull as an owl could have done. Perhaps it 

 may have been the spinal column that was severed, rather 

 than that the brain-pod was actually penetrated, but in any 

 case almost instant death resulted from a bite in the region 

 of the nape. The Shrike then flew off, with its prey 

 dangling from its bill, to its favourite thorn bush, fifty 

 yards away, the ease with which so considerable a weight 

 was lifted being rather remarkable. 



The site chosen for the nest of this species is almost 

 invariably a thorn bush, if such be available ; and if it form 

 part of a hedge, it will generally be the densest part. The 

 nest itself is large for the size of the bird, thickly padded 

 with moss and wool, and lined with fine grasses. The 

 identical spot in the same bush is often resorted to year after 

 year : this being very markedly the case at Llanuwchllyn. 



An instance of the curious abnormality of plumage a 

 divergence from what is generally spoken of as sexual 

 dimorphism was noticed here in regard to the Red-backed 

 Shrike. In the other shrikes, which visit this country, the 

 difference in plumage between the sexes is quite trivial, 

 while in the species under consideration it is ordinarily most 

 distinct. Cases in which the female Red-backed Shrike 

 more or less closely resembled her partner have, however, 

 several times been recorded. In some of these, it has been 

 assumed that the cause of the female putting on a male 

 livery might be due to age ; in one case, at least, it was 

 pretty satisfactorily established that she was a bird of the 

 previous year. The evidence of the Llanuwchllyn pair was 

 interesting, as proving that the abnormal plumage was 

 retained for at least more than one year. In this pair of 

 shrikes there was no visible difference between the sexes ; 

 and they successfully reared a brood, both in 1905 and 



