WOODCHAT. 



LANIUS RUTILUS, Lath. 



Lanius rutilus, Latham, Ind. Orn. i. p. 70 (1790) ; Macg. 



iii. p. 502. 

 Lanius rufus, Naum. ii. p. 22; Hewitson, i. p. 72. 

 Lanius auriculatus, Yarr. ed. 4, i. p. 215 ; Dresser, iii. 



p. 407. 



Pie-grieche rousse, French ; Rothkopfiger Wilrger, German ; 

 Alcaudon, Spanish. 



This bird is a rare visitor to England, though it is 

 common as a summer visitor to France and Germany, 

 and exceedingly abundant in most parts of Southern 

 Europe. Li Spain it is perhaps as common in Anda- 

 lucia as the Red-backed Shrike is in the most favoured 

 localities in our country. I have met with it in the 

 open plains, where its brightly contrasted colours render 

 it a very conspicuous object, as it darts from the top of 

 a tall thistle or from a telegraph-wire to the ground in 

 pursuit of beetles or grasshoppers ; but it is equally 

 frequent amongst the olive-groves, the pine-woods, and 

 scrub-grown hills of almost all parts of Spain south of 

 the great northern Sierras. 



The Woodchat is a very confiding and fearless bird, 



