566 



WOOD SHRIKE. 



Mr. Mar wick, in the first volume of the Linnsean Transactions, has 

 given a figure of the green sandpiper, (Tringa Ochropus, Linnjeus,) 

 which he considered as the Glareola, or Wood Sandpiper. That gen- 

 tleman, however, in the second volume of the same work, acknowledges 

 the possibility of the bird being the green sandpiper, but suspects the 

 Wood Sandpiper to be only a variety of that bird. This bird, however, 

 is perfectly distinct from that or any other species that has come within 

 our knowledge, should it not prove to be the Glareola. 



The few authors who have described this species are silent with 

 respect to the length of its legs, which in the bird here described are 

 singularly long in proportion to the body, and by far superior in length 

 to any species of sandpiper, of equal size, with which we are acquainted. 

 This circumstance, however, may have been overlooked in a skin, or ill- 

 preserved specimen. In the markings, our bird seems to correspond 

 with the description of those few authors who have described the 

 Glareola, except that they all make the back to be brown ; but as we 

 are aware of the difficulty of conveying the idea of colour by description, 

 and the near approach of some kinds of brown to dusky, allowance may 

 be made, the sex and seasons of the year in which the bird is killed, 

 being also taken into consideration. The one in our possession was a 

 male. This species is said to inhabit the moist woods of Sweden. 



WOOD SHRIKE {Lanius rufus, Brisson.) 



*Lanius Rutilus, Lath. Ind. Orn. 1. p. 70. sp. 12. — Lanius Pomeronus,Mus. Carts, 

 fasc. 1. t. 1. Gmel. Syst. 1. p. 302. sp. 33.— Lanius Collurio Rufus, lb. p. 301. 

 sp. 12. — Lanius minor cinerascens, Rati, Syn. p. 19. A. 6. — Will. p. 54. 4. t. 

 10. f. 2 ?_Lanius femina, lb. p. 54. Ill — Lanius rufus, Briss. 2. p. 147. 3 — 



lb. 8vo. 1. p. 199 — Lanius rutilus, Lath. Ind. Orn. 1. p. 76. 12 Pie-griesche 



rousse, Buff. Ois. 1. p. 301.— Temm. Man. d'Orn. 1. p. 146. Le Vail. Ois. d'Afr. 

 2. pi. 63.— Another sort of Butcher-bird, Will. (Angl.) p. 89. 4.— Rothkopfiger 

 Vurger, Bechst. Tasschenb. Deut. p. 101. — Meyer, Tasschenb. Deut. p. 89. — 



—Frisch, t. 61.— Wood-chat, Br. Zool. 1. No. 73.— I&.fol. 74. t. C. 1 Albin, 



2. t. 16.— Lewin's Br. Birds, 1. t. 32.— Lath. Syn. p. 169. 17.— Wale. Br. 

 Birds, 1. t. 31.— Pult. Cat. Dorset, p. 4.— Don. Br. Birds, 4. t. 84. — Wood- 

 Shrike, Flem. Br. Anim. p. 63. 



This species is said to be about the size of the flusher, and from the 

 days of Willughby has been enumerated as a British bird, although no 

 author, with the exception of Montagu, has detected a native example.* 



The bill is horn-colour ; the feathers round the base whitish ; head 

 and hind part of the neck bright bay ; from the base of the bill over 

 the forehead, and through the eyes passing downwards on each side 

 the neck, is a streak of black ; back dusky ; upper tail coverts grey ; 

 wing coverts dusky ; quills black, near the bottom of which a white 

 spot ; throat, breast, and belly, yellowish white ; the tail is black, the 

 margins and tips whitish, except the two middle ones; legs black. 



