Birds. 9775 



Ornithological Notes from Shropshire. By John Rocke, Esq. 

 (Continued from p. 9688.) 



Great Gray Shrike (Lanius excubitor).~-This fine shrike, which 

 stands at the head of the Perchers, or second order of birds, has been 

 frequently met with in this county, generally in the winter, and I am 

 not aware that it has ever been discovered nesting with us. I have a 

 good specimen, killed in Shrewsbury, near the flannel manufactory, 

 and another at Acton Reynold. They diflfer a good deal in size, as 

 well as in their marking. 



Redhacked Shrike (Lanius collurio).— Few of our summer visitants 

 exhibit a more strikingly handsome plumage than the redbacked shrike 

 or butcher bird, and as it is far from uncommon, the same roads and 

 lanes being frequented by the bird almost every season, its beauty is 

 familiar to us. I have known a pair return to the same field, and 

 almost to the same bush, for three or four years in succession, varying 

 little in their dates of arrival. They appear to be more numerous in 

 the neighbourhood of Ludlow than in any other part of the county, and 

 they nest regularly in that district. The eggs are easily obtained ; so 

 much so that, as I have not seen any of the parent birds this summer, 

 I fear, as a consequence, they are becoming scarcer. 



Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa grisola).— This neat and most 

 sociable little bird is common everywhere. The last of our summer 

 migrants, it arrives with a regularity almost inconceivable. Few birds 

 have so little fear of man : the nearer they can approach his dwellings, 

 the greater their confidence appears to be. I have known two broods 

 in succession reared in a summer-house, the nest being placed within 

 two or three inches of the heads of persons who were continually passing 

 in and out. 



Pied Flycatcher (Muscicapa atricapilla).— I have seen this pretty 

 little flycatcher several times in the neighbourhood of Downton 

 Castle : the hollow trees by the side of the River Teme seem a 

 favourite locality for their nests, one of which I knew of this summer, 

 and I trust it remained unmolested. The bird has occurred more than 

 once near this place, and a friend of mine took a nest and eggs near 

 Ludlow a few years ago. 



Common Dipper (Cinclus aquaticus).— Common on all our rivers 

 and brooks, though, I fear, a heavy persecution has arisen against it, 

 from the mistaken idea that it is a destroyer of the spawn of trout and' 



