42 BRITISH BIRDS' EGGS. 



small birds in a day. In spring it was very noisy, one of 

 its cries or calls resembling that of the Kestrel. During 

 the pairing season it is said to have a pleasant warble of its 

 own, and it can imitate the different notes, but not the 

 songs, of other birds. 



THE RED-BACKED SHRIKE. Lanius Collurio. This ele- 

 gant species of Shrike is more frequently met with than the 

 last, breeding in the southern and midland counties of Eng- 

 land, although it does not extend in its migration to either 

 Scotland or Ireland. In Europe it is most abundant in 

 parts of Spain and Italy, and in the south of France. Large 

 insects are its most common food, although it occasionally 

 seizes and impales small birds. The nest is generally placed 

 in a bush or hedge ; it is built externally of coarse materials, 

 such as the stalks of plants, moss, and fine grass, with a 

 little wool, and is lined with slender roots and a few hairs. 

 The eggs appear to vary considerably in colour ; those with 

 which we are most familiar are of a yellowish-white or deep 

 cream-coloured ground, with a zone of grey and pale reddish- 

 brown spots encircling the larger end ; this belt of spots is 

 quite characteristic, though sometimes found at the smaller 

 end of the egg, and less distinctly marked in some instances 

 than in others. 



