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THE LESSER GREY SHRIKE. 

 (Lanius minor.) 



The habits of this Shrike are, on the whole, those of 

 the larger species, with this difference, that the Lesser 

 Shrike, does not rob nests, but destroys insects, and 

 therefore does good. It also, is a " Watchman." It 

 sits on a high point and flings its glances round about. 

 Suddenly it darts down, looks about, finds its prey, and 

 flies back to its former perch. When it is keeping 

 watch over a place where the ground is covered with 

 thick growth, it hovers at about half the height of a 

 man, sometimes until it can see something that will 

 serve as prey. If it finds nothing, it will cease to hover, 

 and flies back to its post. Near the highroad it will flit 

 onward from tree to tree, generally slightly in advance 

 of a vehicle, till at last, at some point or other, it turns 

 away over the fields and with a peculiar undulating 

 flight returns to the spot where it started. 



The Lesser Shrike is a migrant, and departs for 

 warmer places at the beginning of autumn, returning to 

 its nesting place in this country in the spring. Its cry 

 sounds like " Keejay." It is by nature quarrelsome, 

 but it embellishes and enlivens the neighbourheed. In 

 the warmer parts of Europe, it is the most common of 

 all the Shrikes. 



This species only wanders occasionally to England, 

 a mere straggler, on migratory flight. If it be seen it 

 must be protected, as a useful species, from "the man 



