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Mr. Keith Abbott. Canon Tristram, during his first visit to Palestine, noticed the present bird 
in the neighbourhood of Jaffa. Captain Shelley, in the ‘ Birds of Egypt, writes as follows :— 
“This Shrike evidently ranges throughout Egypt and Nubia, and appears to remain in the 
country throughout the year; for Von Heuglin (Orn. N. O. Afr. p. 477) considers it a resident in 
North-eastern Africa; yet I am unacquainted with any authenticated instance of its capture in 
Egypt.” The accompanying notes have been published by Von Heuglin:—‘<I cannot say for 
certain if it is a resident in North-eastern Africa. I have often obtained it on the coasts of the 
Red Sea in May and August, and in September both old and young birds at Keren in the Bogos 
country, and from the Bahr el Abiad. According to Brehm, it is found in September in the forests 
of the Blue and White Nile; and according to Riippell it is common in the whole of North- 
eastern Africa.” Lastly, as regards the winter home of the Lesser Grey Shrike, we are now able 
to quote, thanks to the care of Mr. J. H. Gurney, the notes left by the late Mr. Andersson :— 
“This species is very common in Damara Land during the rainy season; but on the return of 
the dry weather it mostly disappears, though I believe a few individuals remain throughout the 
year. These Shrikes usually perch on some conspicuous tree or other elevated object, whence 
they can obtain a good view of what passes around them; they feed chiefly on insects, which 
they catch both on the wing and on the ground. A great number of these birds are often found 
in a very limited space, and not unfrequently on the same tree.” 
The habits of the present species have been so well described by Naumann that we cannot 
do better than quote his own words :—“ Laniws minor is common in some, rare in other parts of 
Germany, where it is a migratory bird. It arrives early in May, breeds with us, and leaves us at 
the end of August. It migrates during the night and seems to prefer the neighbourhood of 
villages, gardens near the fields, and more particularly meadows over which bushes and trees are 
scattered. It affects flat country in preference to hills, but is not found in marshy places. It is 
one of the latest summer visitants to arrive with us, and selects its breeding-place almost imme- 
diately after its advent; any after-comer it ousts from the neighbourhood ; and these last generally 
migrate further on the following night. It is usually seen either on the wing or sitting quite 
still, and but seldom hopping from branch to branch, and still more seldom on the ground. It 
generally takes its position on the highest branch, and is not a shy bird. It flight is light and 
easy ; and sometimes, for a short distance, it glides with extended and immovable wings like a 
bird of prey. Its nature is quarrelsome; and it often squabbles with other small birds. Its food 
consists of butterflies, all sorts of beetles, and their larvee and pupee, of which it not only devours 
a great number, but wantonly kills and leaves a great many more. It either watches on the 
top of a bush or some elevated position, or hovers in the air, dropping suddenly on the insect 
when it perceives one, and carries it off to its young. It generally tears off the hard wing- 
cases before swallowing a beetle, and squeezes it several times in its thick bill. It is a voracious 
feeder, seldom impales its prey on thorns, but holds it in its foot while it devours it piece- 
meal.” Messrs. Jaubert and Barthélemy-Lapommeraye remark that although this species is 
chiefly insectivorous, it equally appreciates fruit, such as cherries, figs, &c. 
All the Shrikes are more or less mimics; but the present species possesses this faculty in a_ 
most remarkable degree. Its own call-note is harsh; but by mixing portions of the utterances of 
other small birds, it is enabled to produce a kind of song. Thus Naumann observes :— His 
