NOTES. 869 



CORSICAN WOODCHAT IN KENT. 

 A New British Bird. 

 On June 29th, 1909, a shepherd shot, in Romney Marsh, 

 Kent, a Woodchat Shrike, which he gave to Mr. G. Bristow' 

 of St. Leonards, on the following day, remarking that it was 

 a very fine "Butcher-bird." On July 1st I examined the 

 bird in the flesh in Mr. Bristow's shop, and the absence of 

 any white speculum at the base of the primaries at once 

 attracted my attention. Having (through the kindness of 

 the authorities at the Tring Museum) compared this bird 

 with the examples of the Corsican Woodchat and Common 

 Woodchat, I had no doubt that it belonged to the former 

 subspecies {Lanius senator badius, Hartl.), the characteristic 

 distinctions — absence of white speculum, stouter bill and 

 rather longer wing — being well marked. The breeding 

 range, so far as is known at present, of this bird is confined to 

 Sardinia and Corsica, while in winter it is found in north-west 

 Africa and has occurred in Madeira. 



The occurrence of the Corsican Woodchat in Great Britain 

 is very remarkable, especially in June, and it is possible, 

 though there is no proof, that these wanderers that are found 

 in the summer, hundreds of miles from their breeding range, 

 are birds which have either lost their mate or never found 

 one, and have been compelled by some instinct to migrate 

 further. 



This bird is now in the collection of Mr. J. B. Nichols, 

 through whose kindness I was enabled to exhibit it before the 

 British Ornithologists' Club on February 16th, 1910. 



Claud B. Ticehurst. 



Field-Notes on the Corsican Woodchat. 

 This fine and distinct race of the Woodchat is quite one of the 

 most characteristic birds of Corsica below the forest limits, 

 and one cannot travel far in any direction in the cultivated 

 districts without catching sight of the white breast of the cock 

 as he sits crouched on some " coign of vantage." As we 

 approach, he quietly flies down the hillside, followed a few 

 seconds after by his less conspicuous mate, and takes up a 

 similar position a hundred yards away. The usual time of 

 arrival in Corsica is about the third week in April, and gradually 

 the immigrants distribute themselves over the low-lying 

 plage, and up the valleys wherever there is open ground and 

 cultivation up to about 2,500 feet. Perhaps the most favoured 

 breeding-places are open hillsides, with a few trees here and 

 there, and big matted clumps of briars interspersed among 



