458 



PERCHING BIRDS. 



than the wings, and graduated, the central feathers being the longest. The 

 relatively strong metatarsus and toes are of assistance in enabling the shrikes to 

 retain hold of beetles and other insects. The great grey shrike inhabits Western 

 and Central Europe, being replaced to the eastward chiefly by a single-barred 

 species, which extends through Asia, merging into the great northern shrike of 

 North America. The brightly-coloured shrikes belong chiefly to Africa. 



Great Grey 

 Shrike. 



GREAT GREY SHRIKE AND RED-BACKED SHRIKE (\ liat. size). 



The great grey shrike (Lanius excnbitor) is a common bird 

 in the northern and central parts of Europe, frequenting the skirts 

 of forests in the summer. It is a shy and retiring species when unmolested, but 

 when it has lost its nest or young becomes most vociferous. Willughby was 

 perhaps the first English naturalist to describe the employment of this shrike in 

 the capture of passage-falcons. On the Rhine they are persecuted by the game- 

 keepers, and the shrike that has lost his mate will often fly to the top of a 

 very tall poplar tree and thence pour forth his woes. The plan adopted for 



