RED-BACKED SHRIKE. 607 



Like the Lesser Grey Shrike, the Red-backed Shrike has no veiy near ally, 

 nor does it appear to be subject to any local variation. 



The Red-backed Shrike is one of the very latest summer migrants to 

 arrive on our shores. It is rarely seen in its favourite haunts before the 

 beginning of May ; and as it seldom courts concealment, its arrival may 

 be detected at once. Unlike many other of our summer birds of passage, 

 both sexes appear to arrive together ; and having once chosen a haunt, 

 they seldom stray far away from it. The haunt of this interesting bird is 

 in the open. Like the Flycatcher, it seems to prefer a locality which 

 affords a good look-out, and at the same time a place of concealment to 

 which it can retire if alarmed. You may often see the bird in localities 

 abounding in tall hedgerows, or on the borders of woods, on heaths and 

 commons, and more rarely near houses in large gardens. The habits of 

 all the Shrikes are strikingly alike, and closely resemble those of the 

 Flycatchers. Like that soberly dressed little bird the Spotted Flycatcher, 

 the Red-backed Shrike will sit for hoiirs on some bare perch, ever and 

 anon sallying forth to capture a passing insect. Sometimes it will choose 

 a bare bough on the side of a hedgerow, sometimes the topmost twig of a 

 dense bush all overgrown with brambles, or sometimes a rail or stump — 

 in fact any situation from which a good view may be obtained. Here the 

 wary Shrike will sit, occasionally turning its head from side to side and 

 jerking its tail, waiting patiently for prey. Although so small and insig- 

 nificant, the little birds are in almost as much danger from him as they are 

 from the bold relentless Sparrow-Hawk. When the occasion offers, he will 

 pounce down upon some small bird sitting unsuspectingly near him, or he 

 will chase the shrew-mice and deftly seize them as they wander through 

 the grass. So bold is the Red-backed Shrike in search of food that it has 

 been known to attack the call-birds, and is often taken in the birdcatcher's 

 net — a victim to its own rapacity. 



At times the bird will alight upon the ground and search for beetles ; 

 but the bulk of its food is either caught on the wing or dropped down 

 upon unawares. In addition to small birds and mice, the Red-backed 

 Shrike feeds upon lizards, many kinds of beetles, and also on bees, wasps, 

 and grasshoppers. Like its congeners, it conveys many of its captures to 

 some bush covered with sharp thorns, on which it impales its victims and 

 devours them at leisure. This peculiar habit in the Shrikes of thus 

 spitting their food is probably caused by the birds not having sufficiently 

 powerful feet to grasp their prey until torn in pieces by the sharply toothed 

 bill. They therefore secure their food on sharp thorns, and are able then, if 

 it be a bird, to pluck it, or if an insect, a lizard, or a mouse, to tear it 

 to pieces. In plaices frequented by this bold little bird, it is no uncommon 

 thing to see in the bushes the remnants of its meal — of many meals ; for 

 the bird will regularly retire to one place for its purpose ; and the bleached 



