120 Laniadce. 



in 1875. Mr. James Rawlence informs me that a fine specimen 

 was killed some years since by a friend of his in the parish of 

 Martin, near Salisbury. The Rev. A. P. Morres records another 

 killed at Mere in 1845, one seen at Upton Scudamore in 1875, and 

 one which he secured for his own collection, shot at Bishopstone, 

 near Salisbury, in the Easter week of 1876, on some willow trees 

 that fringe the bank of a little stream running through that 

 parish. Mr. Morres also records, and gives strong evidence in 

 support of the assertion, that on one occasion this species was 

 found breeding at Fisherton, near Salisbury, at the end of May or 

 beginning of June, 1839, and describes the nest as built in the 

 upright forks of a very strong thorn hedge, interwoven with 

 brambles, and as being large and compact, composed of dry 

 grass, moss, and small fibre roots on the outside, and lined with 

 soft downy feathers, intermixed with a little hair ; the eggs, four 

 in number, of a pale ash colour, thickly marked at the larger 

 end with spots and stripes, or blotches of a yellowish red colour ; 

 and the old birds as very fierce and noisy, flying round their 

 heads and threatening to attack the depredators who were 

 cutting out the nest, and all the while shrieking and screaming 

 in their fury.* If Mr. Morres's informant was not mistaken and 

 there seems no reason to doubt his circumstantial evidence we 

 have here a record of the highest interest, inasmuch as this is 

 almost the only instance known of the Great Grey Shrike breeding 

 in England.-)- It is true that Selby, who, of all our authors on 

 birds, seems to have most frequently studied this species alive in 

 its wild state, says that it always chooses the winter months for 

 its occasional visits to this country, and certainly within the last 

 few years all those whose captures have been recorded have 

 (with one exception to prove the rule) been seen between 

 November and March. Its regular habitat seems to be the 

 south-eastern portions of Europe, Russia, Turkey, etc. Its 

 plumage is ash coloured above, white beneath, and a large and 

 remarkable patch of black on the cheeks makes it unmistakable 



Wiltshire Magazine,*}, xviii., pp. 186188. 



t See Ibis for 1859. p. 331, for a British specimen of the nest of this bird. 



