NESTING-SERIES OF BRITISH BIRDS. 147 



clump of sea-pink, or on the grassy ledge of a cliff. The eggs, four or 

 five in number, are usually greenish-grey mottled with olive-brown, or 

 occasionally with reddish. Two broods are reared in a season. 



Sutherlandshire, May. 



Presented by Colonel L. H. Irby ^ Captain S. G. Reid. 



No. 30. TREE-PIPIT. (Anthus trivialis.) 



This summer visitor arrives in the south of England early iu April 

 and is generally distributed throughout the more wooded portions of 

 Great Britain during the summer months. Its reported occurrence in 

 Ireland is doubtful. The male is generally to be seen perched on the 

 topmost branch of some tree, whence, at short intervals, he rises singing 

 into the air, usually returning to his starting-point as the song ceases. 

 The food consists of insects and small seeds. The nest is placed on the 

 ground among grass and herbage and formed of moss and dry grass, 

 lined with hair. From four to six eggs are laid and vary greatly in 

 colour and markings. 



1. A nest with eggs. Perthshire, June. 

 Presented by W. R. Ogilvie-Grant, Esq. 



2. A nest with young. Norfolk, June. 



Presented by Lord Walsinghani. 



No. 31, RED-BACKED SHRIKE. (Lanius coUurio.) 



This summer visitor arrives in the south of England early in May 

 and is irregularly distributed throughout the wooded districts of 

 England and Wales during the summer months. A few pairs occa- 

 sionally breed in the south of Scotland, but from Ireland the species 

 has only once been recorded as an accidental straggler. The food 

 consists of small mammals, birds, lizards, bees and other insects, and 

 from its curious habit of impaling its prey on thorns, this species and 

 its allies are commonly known as "Butcher-birds." The "larder" of 

 the pair exhibited contained a young Yellow Hammer and a number of 

 bees. The rather large nest of moss and roots, lined with dry grasses, 

 hair, and wool, is placed in a thorn-bush or thick hedge five or six feet 

 from the ground. The eggs are from four to six in number and vary 

 greatly in colour and markings. 



Suffolk : nest with eggs, May ; nest with young, June. 



Presented by Duncan Parker, Esq. 



