RED-BACKED SHRIKE. 263 



RED-BACKED SHRIKE ( 



The red-backed shrike is a summer migrant, arriving in 

 May, and departing in September, and differing from the rest 

 of our local summer visitants, in being more numerous to- 

 wards the centre, or even the western side of the country, 

 than on the south-east. The larger beetles appear to be the 

 principal food of these birds, though they are also said to eat 

 mice, and to kill little birds, much after the fashion of the 

 great shrike. There is, however, a want of precision in the 

 description of their habits, as they seem to have been mixed 

 up with those of the other, and they are given by British 

 ornithologists more at second-hand than from observation. 



They are lively birds, and so far resemble the birds of 

 prey, that the female is larger and darker-coloured than the 

 male ; but they live, upon the whole, in harmony with other 

 birds, and do not appear to excite so much ill-natured atten- 

 tion as even the cuckoo. The male weighs an ounce ; Dr. 

 Fleming says two; but he has either copied the wrong book, 

 or it is a misprint. The female weighs about an ounce and a 

 quarter. The male is rather more than six inches long, and 

 about ten and a half broad ; the dimensions of the female 

 are seven and twelve inches. The prevailing colours of both 

 birds are reddish brown on the upper part, and dull greyish- 

 white on the under ; but the white in the male is tinged with 

 pale rose colour, and that in the female marked by dusky 

 lines. 



When these birds sit watching on a twig, they appear pre- 

 pared for an instant start upon whatever prey may come in 

 their way. The tail is spread, the wings partially expanded, 

 the bill open, and the eye in a state of active excitement. It 

 is said that, upon some occasions, these birds will, by imitat- 

 ing the cries of other species, sometimes allure young birds 



