140 TURDID^B. 



LANIAD^E. 



RED-BACKED SHRIKE. (Lanius collurio.) 



Very common. 



The Red-Backed Shrike, or Butcher bird, is by no 

 means uncommon at Harrow, though a rare visitor in the 

 midland counties, and scarcely ever seen in the north of 

 England. It first arrives in this neighbourhood towards 

 the end of April or beginning of May, and leaves it again 

 in September. The food of this bird consists of cock- 

 chafers, beetles, grasshoppers, and such like insects ; it 

 also occasionally makes a meal of a small bird ; its food is 

 impaled on thorns previous to being eaten. I have found 

 an unfledged bird impaled in this manner, half devoured, 

 which shows that even nests are not safe from the depre- 

 dations of these well-named Butcher birds. 



MUSCICAPID^:. 



SPOTTED FLYCATCHER. (Muscicapa Griseola.} 

 This bird is very common here. 



PIED FLYCATCHER. (Muscicapa atricapilla.) 



I know of one authenticated instance of the occurrence 

 of this rare bird here : a nest with three eggs was taken 

 in the Grove, about the year 1836, and the eggs are still 

 preserved. 



None since 1873. 



TUKDID.E, 

 MISSEL THRUSH. (Turdus viscivorus.) 



