BIRDS. RAPACIOUS. Shrike. 545 



271 y. Larger Great Shrike. — II. y. L. Excubitor major. 



The leffer wing coverts and the fhoulders are reddifh. Lath. ind. orn. i. 68. n. 6. p. 



L. cinereus major. Briff. av. ii. 146. n. 2. — Groeferer Neiintoeder. Frifch, av. t. 59. — Gefiiers 

 great Butcher-bird. Will. orn. 88. 



Thefe two varieties are found in Europe along with the firft. 



272 13. Butcher Shrike. — 12. Lanius Collurio. 12. 



The tail is fomewhat wedge-fhaped ; the back is grey ; the four middle tail quills are 

 of a uniform grey colour; the bill is leaden coloured. Faun. fuec. n. 81. 



L. Collurio. Scop. an. i. 24. n. 19. Nozem. nederl. vog. t. 65. Gunth. neft. t. 23. Lath. ind. 

 orn. i. 69. n. 11. — Lanius minor rufus. Raj. av. 18. a. 4. — Merulae congener. Raj. av. 67. n. 13. 

 Will. orn. 195. n. 3. — Collurio. Brill, av. ii. 152. — Ecorcheur. Buff. oif. i. 304. t. 21. PI. enl. 

 n. 31. f. 2. — Flefher, or Leffer Butcher-bird. Will. orn. angl. 88. Alb. av. ii. t. 14. — Red-backed 

 Shrike. Brit. zool. n. 72. Lewin, brit. b. i. t. 30. Arct. zool. ii. 240. n. 131. Lath. fyn. i. 167. 

 n. 25. fup. 52. — Ferlotta roffa. Zinnan. uov. 91. t. 15. f. 81. 



Inhabits Europe. — This fpecies is about feven inches and a half long ; it is migratory in England, 

 where it arrives in May, and departs in September or October : It preys on fmall birds, killing them 

 by piercing the fkull with its bill; it feeds likewife on beetles, grafshoppers, and various other infects, 

 which it frequently transfixes on a thorn of the Sloe, and tears in pieces ; and imitates the cries of 

 other birds on purpofe to entrap them. On each cheek a black line, riling from the bafe of the bill, 

 paffcs through the region of the eyes: In the female, the head is reddifh grey, and the crofs line on 

 each cheek is reddifh brown ; the lower parts of the body are whitifh, with tranfverfe blackifh femi- 

 lunar fpots; the tail quills are brown, the outer ones being white on their exterior webs. The fe- 

 male lays fix white eggs, which have a circle of reddifh brown towards the broad end ; fhe builds in 

 .hedges and bufhes. 



Mr Pennant defcribes this fpecies fomewhat differently in his Arctic Zoology: The crown and 

 rump are grey; the back and wing coverts nifty; the breaft and belly rofe coloured; the tail is black, 

 the exterior quills being edged with white : The. female is of a dirty ruft colour ; her breaft and belly 

 dirty white, with dufky femicircular lines ; both have the black line on the cheeks. Perhaps this, 

 defcription refers to a different variety, which might be named Arctic Butcher Shrike. 



2-y-7 /3. Variegated Butcher Shrike. — 12. j3. L. Collurio vat-ius. 



Of a grey colour, the under parts reddifh, with brown llreaks ; the fcapulars ?.re half 

 white, half black; the three outermoft tail quills are reddifh white at the bafe and 

 tips, the outermoft being reddifh white on its outer web. Lath. ind. orn. i. 70. n. 11. p„ 



L. arundinum. Klein, av. 54. n. 10. — Collurio varius. Briff. orn. 201. n. 5. — Variegated Shrike,. 

 Lath. fyn. i. 168. n. 16. — Leffer variegated Butcher-bird. Will. orn. 189. 



Mr Latham fufpects that this variety may poffibly be the female of the former ; it wants the crofs- 

 line on the cheeks. 



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