162 LANIADA. 
to the Grey Shrike, last described, but is much more com- 
mon, and visits this country only in the summer. It ar- 
rives in Italy from Africa about the beginning of April, 
and reaches England by the end of that month or early in 
May, quitting it again in September. It frequents the 
sides of woods and high hedge-rows, generally in pairs, and 
may frequently be seen perched on the uppermost branch 
of an isolated bush on the look-out for prey. The males 
occasionally make a chirping noise, not unlike the note of 
the Sparrow ; Montagu mentions having heard them give 
utterance to a sort of song; and M. Vieillot says they 
imitate the voice of small birds. The food of the Red- 
backed Shrike is mice and probably shrews, small birds, 
and various insects, particularly the common May-chaffer. 
Its inclination to attack and its power of destroying little 
birds has been doubted; but it has been seen to kill a bird 
as large as a Finch, is not unfrequently caught in the clap- 
nets of London bird-catchers, having struck at their decoy 
birds, and is recorded in the Linnean Transactions as hay- 
ing been seen in pursuit of a Blackbird.* Mr. Hewitson 
says, “‘Seeing a Red-backed Shrike busy in a hedge, I 
found, upon approaching it, a small bird, upon which it had 
been operating, firmly fixed upon a blunt thorn, its head 
was torn off, and the body entirely plucked.” 
Mr. Blyth has observed, that where food is abundant, 
this Shrike leaves the body and hard parts of insects thus 
impaled, and only eats the softer abdomen. Portions of 
fur or feathers, and other indigestible parts, when swallow- 
ed, are afterwards ejected at the mouth by the Shrikes in 
the same manner as by Falcons and Owls. 
The nest made by this species is very large in proportion 
to the size of the bird, frequently measuring from six to 
* Vol. xy. p. 14. 
