RED-BACKED SHRIKE. 59 



near Leeds ; Mr. Allis in 1844 stated that it bred occasionally 

 near Halifax, but was becoming scarce, that it was not very- 

 uncommon near Sheffield and Doncaster, and was occasionally 

 met with near Huddersfield and York; and Mr. James Varley of 

 Huddersfield tells me that he can well remember it as an almost 

 annual visitor in that neighbourhood, and that he has himself 

 taken both nests and eggs. When on its migration it has been 

 observed both in the spring and autumn, but its visits then are 

 few and far between. 



The following are the occasions on which it has nested in 

 the county : — Dr. Farrar of Barnsley obtained a pair of old birds, 

 which were snared on their nest, in Cliff Wood, near that town, 

 in the year 1826. Mr. H. Smurthwaite of Richmond, in Morris's 

 Naturalist (1854, p. 81) mentions that eggs in the collection of 

 his friend Mr. Wood were taken from nests near that place. Dr. 

 Hall communicated to the Field (1869, p. 435) a note that a nest 

 with four young birds had been taken within a mile of the town 

 of Sheffield in the early summer of 1868. Mr. J. T. Calvert of 

 Keighley informs me that it has bred near Silsden, in Airedale, 

 from whence one or two nests have been obtained. 



Regarding the nesting of this bird a. Beverley in 1876, Mr. 

 Boyes communicated the following particulars to the Zoologist 

 (1877, p. 157) : — " The Red-backed Shrike is a very rare bird here, 

 and I cannot hear that one has been seen for fifteen years. On 

 May 27th a hen bird of this species was shot, and on the follow- 

 ing day a pair were obtained. A circumstance occurred in 

 connection with the capture of these birds that is perhaps 

 interesting. It appears the male and female were both sitting 

 on a dead branch near each other when the female was shot. 

 The person who shot it repaired to the same place early the 

 following day to shoot the male, when he found a second female; 

 this he shot, and later in the day shot the male. Is it possible 

 that the male had two wives? It is scarcely reasonable that he 

 could have picked up another mate in so short a time in a part 

 of the country where these birds are so rare. I ought to mention 



