94 MYIPTHERINvE. 



43. LANIUS COLLURIO. RED-BACKED SHRIKE. 



Male with the back and wing-coverts brownish-red, the 

 crown of the head, hind neck, and rump ash-grey, the breast 

 and sides rose-coloured ; a broad band of black from the bill 

 to behind the ear ; tail white, towards the end blackish-brown, 

 of which colour are the two middle feathers. Female with 

 the upper parts reddish-brown, the hind neck tinged with 

 grey ; the lower parts greyish-white, transversely undulated 

 with dusky. Young dull reddish-brown above, the hind neck 

 and rump tinged with grey, the lower parts greyish- white, the 

 breast and sides with dark brown undulated semicircular lines, 

 of which there are two on each feather. 



Male, 7i, 12, 3 T ^, *, jf, if, T V Female, 7}, 12 J. 



Not uncommon in the southern parts of England, becoming 

 rarer as we proceed northwards, and not hitherto observed in 

 Scotland. It frequents the margins of woods, thickets, and 

 tall hedges, as well as open downs and commons, more or less 

 covered with furze ; feeds on insects, and sometimes on birds ; 

 nestles in hedges or bushes ; and lays five or six eggs, ten and 

 a half twelfths long, seven- twelfths in breadth, light cream- 

 coloured, sometimes tinged with blue, and marked with dots, 

 spots, and small patches of reddish-brown, and pale purplish- 

 grey, generally scattered, but towards the larger end forming 

 a broad ring. It arrives toward the middle of May, and de- 

 parts in September. 



Red-backed Butcher-bird. Flusher. 



Lanius Collurio, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 136. Lanius Collurio, 

 Temm. Man. d'Ornith. Lanius Collurio, Red-backed Shrike, 

 Macgillivray, Brit. Birds, iii. 505. 



FAMILY X. MYIOTHERI1SLE. FL YCHASERS. 



Body ovate, compact, or rather slender ; neck short ; 

 head of moderate size, broadly ovate, rounded above. Bill 

 straight, tapering, depressed, or much broader than high, 

 compressed only at the end ; upper mandible with the 

 ridge narrow, the sides sloping and convex, the edges 

 sharp and deflected, the tip very narrow, deflected, gene- 

 rally curved over that of the lower, the notches very 

 small. Mouth wide ; tongue triangular, flat, emarginate 

 and papillate at the base, its tip slit and lacerated ; oaso- 



