56 WOODCHAT. 
five in number, and varying much in marking, as well as 
in size and shape. The zone is not so frequent, or 
rather not so conspicuous, as in those of the Red-backed 
Shrike, but still it is irregularly traceable in most 
instances. In some the ground colour is pale blue; in 
others dull white, with a band of rust-coloured spots 
round the lower end; in others the whole surface is 
more or less spotted with a lighter colour. 
Mr. Hewitson describes one from the fine collection 
of the Messrs. Tuke, of York, in which the spots, which 
are large and deep in colour, of a brown or neutral 
tint, are scattered equally over the whole surface. 
A second variety is light bluish grey, with some large 
and some small dashes and spots of olive about the 
space between the centre and the base, and a few specks 
of the same elsewhere. 
A third is pale yellowish white, with spots of yellow- 
ish olive irregularly distributed around and about the 
centre. 
A fourth is pale yellowish white, with a few spots of 
yellowish around the middle, tending towards the base. 
A fifth pale yellowish, with numerous spots of brown- 
ish red, chiefly around the centre, but a few over the 
remainder of the egg. 
A sixth is of a very pale yellowish green ground 
colour, spotted all over, but principally m the way of 
a belt near the larger end with spots of yellowish olive. 
A seventh is of a pale yellowish white ground colour, 
richly marked towards the larger end with fine reddish 
brown spots, and a few minute specks of the same 
here and there. 
