ON THE 0REAT GREY SHRIKE. 99 



found, unless a stray pair of the Red-backed species, L. collurio, 

 chanced to nest in a lowlier bush than is usually chosen by this 

 bird. The scarcer Woodchat, L. pomeranns, — a local, indeed in 

 my experience a rare bird, — prefers to nest in the orchards. The 

 Great Grey Shrike selects the forest, not venturing into tangled 

 coverts or dense jungle, it is true, but choosing for a nesting- 

 place some big tree standing on the edge of the forest. Naturally 

 there is no hard and fast rule as to the position of nests. In 

 Holland Mr. Seebohm obtained a nest of this Shrike from the 

 top of a Scotch fir.* On the Tana river, Mr. A. C. Chapman took 

 another nest from a birch tree, about ten feet from the ground, t 

 In Central Europe I found that big oaks were the favourite trees, 

 though I have seen the nest of a Grey Shrike built in quite a 

 small tree — an exceptional case. In the district I investigated 

 the nest was usually placed at the apex of a forked bough, a long 

 way out from the main trunk, built on, not in, the fork, at a 

 probable elevation of thirty -five or forty feet. 



The nest itself is a bulky structure, composed of fine twigs 

 interlaced with a few stout straws, bents, and fibres. Within, 

 it is quilted with a profusion of soft substances, feathers of the 

 pheasant and buzzard, a little of the white fur from the belly of 

 a hare, a little of the shed coat of the roe-deer, sheep's-wool, or 

 any convenient substitute. 



The young are carefully tended by their parents, and live 

 together for a few weeks after leaving the nest, the old birds 

 foraging for their brood long after the latter are able to fly. 



I have never been fortunate enough to hear this Shrike sing, 

 but the observations of Mr. Kerry have placed the fact upon a 

 basis of truth (Zool. 1880, p. 70). The only sounds that I have 

 heard were the loud and angry notes of birds which detected and 

 denounced my presence, and the shrill cries of the young. 



Some years ago I described the deft and handy fashion in 

 which a Grey Shrike in my aviary decapitated its victims ; 

 bolting the head first as a bonne bouche, it prooeeded to suspend 

 the carcase of its prey in such a way as best forwarded the flaying 

 of the body. I lately came across an old American note, 

 reproduced in the ' Annual Register' of 1801 : afterwards I found 

 that Dr. Elliott Coues had also noticed it ; therefore I need only 



* ' British Birds,' i, p. 601, | * Kambles in Lapland,' p. 170. 



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