WOODCHAT SHRIKE. 611 



the Caucasus. It winters in Africa south of the Sahara and north of the 

 equator. The Woodchat Shrike has no very near ally ; nor does it appear 

 to be subject to any local variations in the colour of its plumage. 



The habits of the Woodchat Shrike do not differ from those of its con- 

 gener the Red-backed Shrike. Its haunts are in comparatively open 

 places — districts sparsely studded with bushes and a few trees. Here it 

 takes up its perch on some topmost spray or on the outside limb of a tree, 

 where its bright plumage is most conspicuous, and where it sits for a 

 lengthened period on the look-out for food. Ever and anon it will be 

 seen to open and jerk its tail ; and it is incessantly turning its head from 

 side to side in close search for prey. It is not a wary bird, and, with 

 due precaution, may be quite closely approached. Usually it is seen in 

 pairs ; and when disturbed, both birds will fly off in company. 



In Greece and Asia ]Minor I found the Woodchat very common. With 

 the exception of the Black-headed Bunting, I found more of its nests than 

 those of any other bird. It is only a summer visitor to both these coun- 

 tries, belonging neither to the earliest nor to the latest birds of passage. 

 It arrives about the first of April, at least three weeks after the Swallows, 

 whose range extends into the Arctic regions, but three weeks before the 

 Tree-Warblers [Hy^joJais elaica and H. olivetorum), whose range does not 

 extend north of the basin of the Mediterranean. It is a very conspicuous 

 bird, and cannot easily be overlooked, and is very common in the olive-forests. 

 As you descend the mountains the olives in the valley look like a dense 

 forest, often extending twenty miles or more ; but when you descend into 

 them you find that the trees are planted at some distance from each other, 

 and that a considerable cultivation of vines, mulberries, and sometimes 

 Indian corn, is carried on between them. But it is perhaps on the lower 

 slopes of the hills, where the trees are more stunted and the ground is 

 less cultivated, that the Woodchat is oftenest to be seen. Perched con- 

 spicuously upon the top of a bush, or even a lofty tree, it appears ever 

 to be on the watch for the chance of pouncing down upon some unwary 

 insect that may come within its range. Its song is by no means unmu- 

 sical, and very gentle to proceed from such raptorial jaws. It reminded 

 me very much of the twittering of a Swallow or the warble of a Starling. 

 Some of its call-notes, however, are loud and harsh enough ; and I at first 

 thought it was imitating the notes of other birds in order to attract them 

 within reach ; but inasmuch as the greater number of notes it apparently 

 imitated were of birds far too powerful for it to gi-apple with, such cannot 

 be the case. The first nest I found in Greece was at Delphi, not very far 

 from the ruins of the Temple of Apollo. The nest contained six eggs on 

 the 5th of May. Higher than 2000 feet above the level of the sea the 

 bird became much rarer ; and in the pine-region, 4000 feet above the sea- 

 level, its place seemed to be entirely taken by the Red- backed Shrike; 



