a 
degree of certainty the identity of the bird year after year, and that it is very possible that one 
of the young birds may replace its parent in the nesting-place. 
Mr. R. Collett kindly sends us the following note on the nesting of the present species :— 
“The very day after its arrival, which takes place about the 17th to the 20th of May, it 
begins to prepare its nest. I have found one placed on a large root amongst high grass. I once 
saw one in Denmark fix a mouse on a thorn—which I have never elsewhere observed. The 
materials of the nest differ considerably according to the locality. I once took one in which were 
pieces of ribbon, flannel, and wool-threads, &c. &c.” 
For the following interesting account of its breeding-habits we are indebted to Mr. A. W. 
Johnson, of Gateshead, who writes :— 
“The Red-backed Shrike commences breeding in Kent about the 15th of May. The nests 
are most commonly found amongst the thick brambles growing in deserted gravel-pits, which are 
of frequent occurrence in that county, but they are also occasionally found in hedges, invariably 
within a short distance of a brook and near a road. In the above district the well-known 
variations were found to be in about the following proportions:—Only one nest in seven con- 
tained the red variety ; one in four, eggs with the pale green ground; and the greater part by far, 
those with the white ground. The nests in which the white variety were taken were always 
composed of ‘cliva,’ never of moss, as the pale green were. The complement of eggs is from five 
to six, usually the latter. 
“They rear only one brood in the year. The birds appear, even if robbed, to come back to 
the same bramble or bush year after year. An anecdote told me is, I think, worthy of repetition. 
A Red-backed Shrike was observed intently watching a bird-catcher arranging his lures. After 
fastening his decoy-bird he retired, when the Shrike immediately flew over to the latter, and with 
one blow laid him dead.” 
We have ourselves known of instances of the present species pouncing down after the bird- 
catcher’s decoy-birds. On the 11th of November 1869, which is a very late date for a Red-backed 
Shrike to be found in England, a young bird of this species pursued a Wren into a hedge, and, 
after a spirited chase, succeeded in forcing the little bird to fly, when, their course taking them 
across the nets, both pursuer and pursued were captured, and brought to us. 
Specimens in our own collection have formed the subjects of the accompanying Plate. ‘The 
adult birds described are also in our possession; but the description of the young bird is taken 
from a specimen preserved soon after its leaving the nest. It was kindly lent to us by Messrs. 
Salvin and Godman, who procured it at Hampstead in 1854. As the bird progresses towards 
maturity it gradually loses the mottled appearance, and becomes more and more like the old 
female. A specimen in our collection, caught at Hampstead in August 1869, is assuming the 
brownish red head, and is decidedly of a darker rufous on the back, the dark transverse lines 
becoming gradually narrower. The wings have also lost most of the rufous edging on the outer 
web; and the tail is much darker; while on the underside ef the body the vermiculations are 
much more distinct, and developed further down on to the flanks; the bill is also much darker 
brown, with scarcely any trace of yellow on the lower mandible. ‘The characters are still further 
developed in another young bird in our collection, caught at Hampstead on the 6th of September 
1869. A specimen in Mr. Howard Saunders’s collection, from the Volga, has nearly lost every 
40 
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