( 70 ) 

 ORDER II. PIES. 



This is a noify chattering tribe of birds j deftru6live, mifchievouSj and great 

 devourers. They prey on living birds, and fmall quadrupeds, as well as car- 

 rion, grain, fruit, and infedts. 



GENUS I. SHRIKE. 



Bill very ftrong : in moft ftraight. 

 Nostrils moftly covered with ftifF briftles. 

 Tongue jagged at the end. 



Toes three before, and one behind, divided to the origin : claws ftrong and 

 hooked. 



S P E. I. GREY BACKED SHRIKE. 



PI. 29, 



Lanius excubitor. Lin. Syfl. I. p. 135. 

 La Pie-grieche grife. Brif. Orn. II. p. 141. 



This elegant fpecies is in length ten inches, in breadth fourteen, and weighs 

 three ounces. The bill is of a dark horn colour : the eyes are dark brown : from the 

 bafe of the beak on each fide to the back of the head is a broad black line : the 

 plumage of the upper parts of the body is of a fine light grey colour : the under 

 parts are white : the wing coverts are black, with an oblong broad mark of 

 v/hite on each: quills black: tail very long, cuneiform, and black; the fide fea- 

 thers edged with white, the two outer ones wholly white : legs long and black : 

 claws ftrong and hooked : wings very fliort, fcarcely covering the rump. 



The female is brown on the upper parts of the body, and dull white beneath, 

 crofted with numerous lines of dark brown, and has the ftreak through the eye 

 as the male. 



This bird makes its neft in thick bufties, conftruding it of heath and mofs, 

 and lining it with many foft materials ; and lays four eggs. It is not common 

 in England. It migrates to us in May, and departs in the autumn. I have 

 feen it in fummer in feveral parts of Wiltftiire, and have no doubt of its breed- 

 ing there. 



For the egg, fee PI. VII. Fig. 2. 



