LANIIDA. I51I 
THE RED-BACKED SHRIKE. 
Lanius COLLURIO, Linnzus. 
This, by far the commonest of our British Shrikes, arrives in the 
south of England very early in May, and is irregularly distributed 
during the summer throughout the wooded districts of the southern 
and central portions, and in Wales. In Norfolk, however, it 
appears to be decreasing; in Lincolnshire and south-east Yorkshire 
it nests very sparingly ; while northward it is of irregular occurrence, 
and is said to be rarer than in former years. In the south-east of 
Scotland it has occasionally been known to breed, as well as at 
Cambuslang, Lanarkshire, in 1893; but beyond the Forth it is rare, 
though migrants have been taken at Rattray Head, Dee, as well as 
on the Pentland Skerries. In the Shetlands Saxby says that he 
shot a young male on October 5th 1866, and that on June oth 
(probably a slip for Jw/y) 1870, he saw a female Red-backed Shrike 
followed by three young birds already tolerably strong on the wing. 
In Ireland the only example on record was shot on August roth 
1878, near Belfast. For details respecting the distribution of this 
species, Mr. O. V. Aplin’s paper (Tr. Norw. Soc. v. pp. 286-310) 
should be consulted. 
