5 
breed and rear its young; and though we cannot procure any really authentic account of its 
breeding in the British isles, we think it not improbable that it has bred here.” 
Mr. Howard Saunders has given us the following note on the Woodchat as observed by him 
in Spain :— 
“« Lanius auriculatus arrives in Spain early in April, and swarms throughout the country. 
Even on the mud flats at the mouth of the Ebro, wherever the detritus can support a scanty 
vegetation, this bird is to be seen flitting from one shrub to another, invariably perching on the 
highest branch (such as it is, where nothing grows above one’s waist). I do not suppose it nests 
there ; but what it was doing at all, some miles away from the mainland (and in the middle of 
May tvo), quite puzzles me. The complement of eggs is five; the nest, often very prettily 
adorned with flowering plants, is placed in a fork of any branch of almost any tree; there is 
never any apparent attempt at concealment, though some nests do not catch the eye so readily 
as others.” 
The eggs of the Woodchat Shrike, from four to six in number, are in size about similar to 
those of Lanius collurio, varying from 1 inch xX $$ down to #3 x 2%, and are not easy: to 
distinguish from the blue-grey varieties of the eggs of the latter bird. Eggs of the reddish 
variety, however, so common in series of those of Lanius collurio, are of very rare occurrence. 
The general type of the Woodchat’s egg has the ground-colour dull blue-grey with a faint green 
tinge, and is spotted and blotched with dark grey and brown, these markings being generally 
collected round the large end so as to form a more or less distinct zone. Occasionally the 
markings are distributed generally over the surface of the egg; but these varieties are rare. 
Amongst the specimens in Dresser’s collection we may name two, one from Holland, having the 
ground-colour of a pale salmon tinge, and the spots, which are but few, of a faint purple and 
red colour; the other, from near Madrid, has the ground-colour light clay-brown, and the spots 
dark grey and reddish brown. 
The description of the old birds is taken from an adult pair shot in Piedmont in May 1868, 
and given us by Count Salvadori. Of these the old male is figured in the Plate. 
We are indebted to the collection of Messrs. Salvin and Godman for the specimen of the 
very young bird we have described. It was procured at Valkenswaard, in Holland; and, on 
comparing it with the very young Red-backed Shrike, we notice, notwithstanding a certain 
resemblance between the two species, that at this early age they present some recognizable points 
of distinction. Thus the young Woodchat is generally paler in plumage, and the bars on the 
back are broader; the scapularies and rump, which are white in the adult, are pale fulvous in the 
young, and contrast with the rest of the plumage, no such difference being seen in the case of 
the common Red-backed Shrike. On the under surface they more closely resemble each other; 
but the vermiculations in the case of the Woodchat extend all over the body, and are more 
thickly spread than in its ally, which has the abdomen unbarred. 
The figure of the young bird, which is a little older than the specimen described, is taken 
from a Spanish example given us by Mr. Howard Saunders. 
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