462 



PERCHING BIRDS. 



are bluish grey in ground-colour, spotted and blotched with dark grey and browa 

 Captive specimens will eat not only insects, but likewise small frogs ; and, in 

 default of thorns, will hang their prey on the crossbars of their cage. The adult 

 male has the crown of the head and lower neck bright chestnut ; the forehead and 

 ear-coverts jet black; the scapulars and rump pure white; the wings and tail 

 black-and-white ; and the lower-parts white, slightly tinged with buffish red. 



i 



Masked Shrike. 



WOODCHAT, MASKED, AND HOODED SHRIKES (^ nat. size). 



The masked shrike (L. nubicus), represented in the left-hand figure 

 of the illustration above, is a Nubian species, which passes the 

 summer in Greece as well as the northern parts of Africa. It arrives in the Morea 

 at the commencement of May, and proceeds to take up its quarters in cultivated 

 valleys, generally nesting in the vicinity of pasture-land. This shrike builds its 

 nest in olive-trees and bushes, the nesting materials consisting of leaves of plants, 

 grass-stems, and fibres. It lays a pale greenish grey egg, clouded with yellow and 



