SHRIKES. 459 



destroying these birds is to mark down their nests and kill the young birds and 

 one or both parents, before the former can fly. The great grey shrike builds in a 

 variety of situations ; Mr. Seebohm found a nest of this species in the top of a 

 Scotch fir, and Mr. Collett observed another in Finmark, containing six young 

 ones, in a birch -tree on a sterile terrace. The nest was easily seen, and con- 

 structed of dry twigs together with straw, thickly lined with white feathers of the 

 willow-grouse, and a little wool. In Central Europe large forest-oaks are most 

 frequently chosen by this species to contain its nest, the tree selected being 

 always on the edge of a belt of timber, never in the centre of a big wood ; such 

 nests being generally placed at the apex of a forked bough a long way out from 

 the main trunk, built on a knot in the fork, at an elevation of some thirty-five or 

 forty feet. The nest itself is a bulky structure composed of fine twigs interlaced 

 with a few stout straws, bents, and fibres. Within, it is quilted with a profusion 

 of soft substances, feathers of the pheasant and buzzard, a little of the white fur 

 from the belly of a hare, and some of the shed coat of the roe deer, sheep's wool, 

 or any convenient substitute. The eggs of this shrike are greenish white in ground- 

 colour, blotched with olive-green, wood-brown, and dull lilac. The great grey 

 shrike is most assiduous in the care which it bestows upon its young, and it is 

 touching to see the distress and consternation which it exhibits if it imagines that 

 the safety of its charge is endangered. 



To a large extent migratory in its habits, this bird does not breed in the 

 British Isles, although a considerable number visit England and Scotland in 

 the fall of the year. They have occurred on Heligoland as early as the middle 

 of August ; and whilst a few individuals yearly pass along favourite " fly-lines " 

 in certain years their numbers have increased tenfold. Those which winter 

 in England for the most part lead lives of solitude, frequenting a particular beat 

 of country for a week or two at a time, during which the familiar outline of the 

 butcher-bird may at any moment be detected perching upon the top of some 

 leafless tree, watching incessantly for field -voles, shrews, and small hedgerow 

 birds. The flight of the shrike is sometimes high and sometimes low, but 

 constantly undulating. With the arrival of spring the great grey shrike in 

 England moves eastward to the coast, from which it takes its departure in March 

 and April, though an occasional straggler is sometimes reported as having been 

 seen during the summer. In common with other butcher-birds, the great grey 

 shrike is in the habit of impaling the carcase of its prey upon some convenient 

 thorn, in order both to facilitate the flaying of the bird or small mammal, and also 

 to provide a larder. The great grey shrike has the upper-parts nearly uniform 

 slaty grey ; the lores, cheeks, and ear-coverts are black ; the wings are black with 

 white bases to the quills; the graduated tail is black and white ; and the under- 

 pays are pure white, often finely barred with crescentic grey markings. 



Lesser Grey The lesser grey shrike (L. minor) is a migratory species, winter- 



Shrike. j n g j n Africa, and passing the summer months in Central and 

 Southern Europe, Asia Minor, and Persia. Mr. Seebohm says that in Eastern 

 Europe this shrike frequents the outskirts of cultivation, where trees and bushes 

 of various kinds struggle for existence amongst the broken rocks. This species 

 breeds early in June, and the nests found in Slavonia are built in acacia trees ; in 



