General 
descrip- 
tion. 
142 PASSERES. LANIUS. SHRIKE. 
and bushes, laying six or seven white eggs, spotted with yel- 
lowish-brown. It is extremely courageous, attacking birds 
much its superior in size; and will not allow a hawk, crow, 
or magpie to appreach its haunts with impunity. Its legs and 
talons are slender and weak, and are never used in tearing up 
its prey ;_ this is effected by the bill, which is thick, and fur- 
nished with very powerful muscles; and in this respect it 
strikinely differs frem the rapacious order. 
Piate 43. Fig. I. Natural size. 
Bill black, strong, and much hooked at the tip; the base 
covered with projecting bristles, that conceal the ori- 
fice of the nostrils. rides blackish-brown. From the 
base of the upper mandible, a black streak runs past 
the eye, reaching halfdown the neck. Upper parts 
pearl-grey, passing into pale ash-grey, upon the sca- 
pulars, rump, and upper tail-coverts. | Wing-coverts 
black. Base of the primary quills white ; the rest black 
with white tips. Under parts greyish-white. Tail 
wedge-shaped, of twelve feathers; the two middle ones 
black, the two next tipped with white; on the rest the 
black diminishes to the outermost feather, which is ge- 
nerally white. Feet and claws black. 
The female differs only from the male bird, im having the 
under parts of a deeper shade of greyish-white, marked 
with numerous transverse dusky lines. 
Red-backed Shrike.—Lanius Collurio, Zinn. 
¥3 Le 
PLATE 48. Fig. 2. and PLATE 48. Fig. 2, &: 
o 
Lanius Collurio, Linn. Syst.-1. p. 136. 12.—Gmel. Syst. p. 200.—Lath. Ind. 
Ornith. v. 1. p. 69. 11.—Briss. v. 2. p. 151. sp. 4. 
Lanius minor rufus, Raii, Syn. p. 18. A. 4.—Will. p. 54. 
Merulz congener alia, Raii, Syn. p. 67.13. 
Lanius spini Torquens, Bechst. Naturg. Deut. v. 2. p. 1335. 
Ia Pie griéche Ecorcheur, Buff: Ois. v. 1. p. 304. t. 21.—Jd. Pl. Enl. 31. 
f, 2. male, and fig. 1. female, under the title of Pie Grieche rousse fe- 
melle.—Temm. Man. d’Ornith. v. 1. p. 147.—Le Vail. Ois. d’ Afric. v. 2. 
Pl. 64. f. 1. and 2. 
