114 



BRITISH BIRDS 



Laniidee (shrikes). One is the golden oriole (Oriolus galbulus), a 

 rare straggler to England on migration from Central and Southern 

 Europe. It has been known to breed in the southern counties, and, 

 if protected, would probably become an annual visitant. The other 

 species is the waxwing (Ampelis garrulus), an irregular visitor in 

 winter, sometimes in considerable numbers, from the arctic circle. 



Red-backed Shrike. 

 Lanius collurio. 



FIG. 42. KED-BACKED SHRIKE. natural size. 



Frontal band, lores, and ear-coverts black ; crown and nape 

 grey ; mantle chestnut-brown ; quills dark brown edged with rufous ; 

 tail-coverts grey; tail-feathers white at their bases, the other 

 portion and the whole of the two central ones black ; under parts 

 rose-buff ; bill and feet black. Length, seven inches. 



The shrike is distinguished among perching birds by its sharply 

 hooked, toothed, rapacious beak, and its hawk-like habit of preying 

 on small birds, mice, shrews, frogs, and lizards. The extraordinary 

 custom it has of impaling its victims on thorns has won for it the 

 unpleasant name of butcher-bird, by which it is best known to 

 country-people. Some naturalists have expressed the opinion that 



