Birds of Britain 



this country. Its brilliant colouring unfortunately attracts 

 the eye and the gun of those whose sole thought on seeing 

 a rare bird is to kill it, and the large mass of nature lovers 

 are thus deprived of the pleasure of a glimpse of this 

 brilliant bird. 



It breeds commonly over most of Europe, throughout 

 France, Germany, and Russia, but is scarce along the 

 countries bordering the North Sea. 



The nest is suspended from the fork of a branch of some 

 tree, usually in woods, and is a carefully woven structure of 

 strips of bark and grass stems. The eggs are white with a 

 few large black spots. 



The male is golden yellow all over, except for the quills, 

 wing coverts, and lores, which are black. The central pair 

 of tail feathers are black, all the rest being black with 

 yellow tips. Bill red. Legs lead grey. The female is 

 greenish yellow and has the under parts striated with 

 greyish. The young is still duller in colour than the 

 female. Length 9 - 5 in. ; wing 6 in. 



THE GREAT GREY SHRIKE 



Lanius excubitor, Linnaeus 



Every autumn towards the end of October a certain 

 number of these birds regularly visit us, occurring more 

 commonly on our eastern coasts, but having nevertheless 

 been taken in most of our counties. In habits it resembles 

 its small congener the Eed-backed Shrike, and may be seen 



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