98 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



small birds, until failure of supplies or desire of change impels 

 each individual Shrike to seek some fresh hunting-ground. The 

 flight may be very high, or very low, but is always undulating. 

 With the arrival of spring the Grey Shrike moves eastward to the 

 coast, from which it takes its departure in March or April, a few 

 stragglers wintering here until May, or even electing to pass the 

 summer with us. 



The stories that are told of flocks of Shrikes being seen 

 inland appear to me to be unworthy of credit. One such is 

 alluded to in the * Birds of Herefordshire' (p. 39). The birds are 

 chiefly solitary, as their manner of life, indeed, almost necessitates. 

 Like Hawks, they associate in flocks to meet the exigencies of 

 travelling long distances ; but that at other times they live 

 gregariously I do not believe, though of course old and young remain 

 together at first, after the latter are fledged. There is the state- 

 ment of a Mr. George Goddard to the late Dr. Lamb, of Newbury, 

 that six Grey Shrikes were seen together on August 5th, 1810, 

 near Newbury (Zool. 1880, p. 315). This I can well believe. It 

 is also possible that some of these birds had been reared in 

 Britain. One reason why this Shrike has never been proved to 

 breed in England may well be that very few Englishmen know 

 where to look for the nest ; but I should be more disposed to 

 think that the Newbury birds had migrated from abroad. In 

 1886, Great Grey Shrikes visited the island of Heligoland on the 

 14th, 15th, and 16th of August. Early-hatched birds would be 

 able to fly strongly by the middle of June, and the distance from 

 Holland, where this Shrike is not rare, to Berkshire presents no 

 insurmountable objection to the hypothesis that the birds came 

 from abroad as a family party. 



Of the habits of this Shrike the most accurate account given 

 by early writers that I have seen is that of Turner, who became 

 well acquainted with the species in Germany.* I, too, have 

 studied this Shrike, as well as limited opportunities rendered 

 possible, in Germany, spending day after day in the observation 

 of its light and graceful movements, principally on the right side 

 of the Rhine near Mulheim. Out in the open plain, where few 

 trees, except poplars, stud the roadsides, not a Shrike was to be 



* 'Avium preecipuarum quarum apud Plinium et Aristotelem mentio 

 est, Historia.' L544, 



