461 



visit England (for in Scotland the bird is very rare), apparently journey to their 

 summer quarters by way of the valley of the Rhine. The red-backed shrike arrives 

 somewhat later than the majority of summer migrants. Each pair becomes estab- 

 lished in a certain area which it rarely if ever leaves ; the male bird being conspicu- 

 ous as he perches on some tall spray of hawthorn. We have never seen this shrike 

 build in a tree of any kind, and it seems invariably to build in a hedge or low bush ; 

 the nest, although this circumstance is exceptional, being at times placed in a tiny 

 bush barely eighteen inches from the ground. The nest is built of dry stalks and 

 moss, lined with fibrous roots and a little hair ; the eggs vary, being sometimes 

 yellowish white with markings of olive and lilac, and sometimes salmon-coloured 

 marked with light red. No sooner has this shrike reared its young than it 

 prepares to leave Britain, hurrying south in advance of many other summer birds, 

 in order that it may perform the operation of moult in the heat of a tropical 

 winter. So long as it remains in England, it always exhibits the same alert 

 character vigilant, resourceful, always ready to anticipate danger. It is a bird 

 of rapid flight and considerable agility; a*nd when in the act of seizing some 

 winged prey, shoots forward like an arrow released from the bow, and rarely misses 

 the quarry. It will swoop upon a humble-bee, impaling the unfortunate insect 

 with perfect deftness upon the sharpest thorn available. Although the red-backed 

 shrike is generally content to feed upon insects, it has been known to attack a 

 lizard, and is partial to small birds, field-mice and frogs, and sometimes attacks 

 the decoys of bird-catchers like the great grey shrike. The adult male has the 

 head, back, and sides of the neck bluish grey ; the middle of the back and 

 scapulars dull brick - red ; the wings dull black edged with rufous ; the tail 

 black-and-white; the forehead, lores, and ear -coverts black; the chin white; 

 and the under -parts rose-colour. The female is brownish grey above with a 

 reddish brown tail ; the under-parts being dull white closely barred with transverse 

 brown markings. 



The woodchat shrike (L. pomeranus) is rather a rare bird in 

 Woodchat Shrike. - . ... . 



many parts of its summer quarters in Central Europe, although it is 



the commonest of all the shrikes in Portugal. Preferring to nest amid extensive 

 orchards, it is absent from forest-land, and frequents sunny valleys and the gentle 

 slopes of low hills commanding a southern aspect, rather than more elevated and 

 exposed situations. A trained eye soon learns to recognise the woodchat at a con- 

 siderable distance, and we have often pointed out to our companions a woodchat 

 when the bird appeared to the naked eye, or even to the binoculars, to be merely a 

 small white patch on the side of a bush. This is easily explained by the fact that 

 the woodchat, true to the watchful character of its congeners, invariably perches 

 (at least during migration, to which alone these remarks apply) upon the outside 

 of a bush, its white breast facing outwards towards the quarter from which it 

 apprehends the approach of danger. The flight is strong and undulating. 

 During migration these birds travel constantly in the wake of their fellows, 

 and although two days may often interrupt the migration, when it is resumed, it 

 will be found that shrikes adhered to the line taken by the advance-guard. In 

 Eastern Algeria this shrike breeds in numbers on the hillsides, constructing its 

 nest almost entirely of the stalks of a small grey flower. As a rule, the eggs 



