264: INSECTIVOIUE. 



to their destruction ; but this is probably only said, not 

 seen. 



The nests are carefully hidden in close hedges or bushes, 

 generally where the soil is rather humid, and near the margins 

 of woods. The nest is formed of moss and fibrous roots, in- 

 termixed with wool, and finished with a lining of hairs. The 

 eggs are five or six, of a colour something resembling the 

 under part of the male bird, and marked with brown spots. 

 The young, in their first plumage, resemble the female ; but 

 the upper part is not nearly so red. When the birds are in 

 full plumage, the red, though a brown red, is very rich ; and 

 when the bird jerks along the air, it has the appearance of 

 flashes of dull fire ; on which account it has been called the 

 " flasher," and that has been corrupted to " flusher." 



The locality of the red-backed shrike is the most remark- 

 able part of its natural history. It is short-winged, and of 

 course gets through the air with more labour than many of 

 those summer birds that are found only in the south-eastern 

 part of the country ; but it leaves the gravelly and clayey 

 districts, and takes up its abode in a central zone, beginning 

 at the channel, and terminating at the light soils in the 

 valley of the Dee. The climate of that zone is warm, and 

 the soil peculiarly adapted to the habits of the larger beetles, 

 which seem the natural and peculiar food of these birds. The 

 habits of the red-backed shrike, and also the characters of 

 those districts which it prefers, deserve to be studied. 



WOOD-CHAT SHRIKE (Lanius rutilus). 



As a British bird, this species is rare, though common 

 enough on the continent, where it is a migrant, resorting, as 

 is the case with many of the common birds of central Europe, 

 to the delta and valley of the Nile in the winter. With us 

 it is a rare summer visitant, and may be said to be only an 



