NOTES AND QUERIES. 



309 



Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio) breeding in Merionethshire. 



— On June 23rd I saw a male Keel-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio) on 

 the telegraph-wires by the railway near Arthog, Merionethshire. On 

 examining him with the field-glasses I found he had a grasshopper in 

 his bill. After a few minutes he was joined by the female bird, which 

 was canying a small beetle. From the wires they flew into an oak- 

 tree, and there the male perched on the end of a dead bough, calling 

 harshly, and vigorously jerking his tail. Immediately below was a 

 thicket of seedling birches, varying in height from a few inches to ten 

 feet. Presently he dropped into this, and shortly afterwards was 



Nest and Young of Red-backed Shrike. 



followed by his mate. On entering the bushes I heard the nestlings, 

 and after some searching came across the nest in a birch about nine 

 feet high. It was placed about five feet from the ground, and was, 

 as usual, large and not very neatly put together. Small twigs, bents, 

 coarse meadow-grasses, and sheep's wool were the materials used for 

 the outside, and the nest was lined with hair and cotton-grass. The 

 latter grows in profusion on Arthog Bog, and I found the nests of 

 several other species lined with it. There were four young birds 

 apparently some ten days old, and one addled egg in the nest. The 



