^82 



GREY SHRIKE. 



Lanius Excubitor. L, canusj suhtus albus, alis cauda cuneata 

 fasciaque oculari nigris, reciricibus lateralibus albis. 



Grey Shrike, white beneath, with the wings, cuneated tail, 

 and stripe across the eyes black, the side tail-feathers white. 



Lanius Excubitor. L. cauda cuneiformi lateribus alba, dorso 

 cano, alis nigris maculia alba, Lin. S^st. Nat. 



Lanius cinereus major. Gesn. av. 



Greater Butcher-Bird. Will, orn. 



Great cinereous Shrike. Penn. Brit. Zool, 



La Pie-Grieche Grise. Buff. ois. PI. Enl. 445. 



The Lanius Excubitor or Grey Shrike may very 

 properly be allowed to stand at the head of the 

 genus, not only on account of its being the prin- 

 cipal and best known European species, but from 

 its affording a good example of the manners or 

 mode of life in the major part of the genus, in 

 which there seems, so far as can be judged from 

 the history of such species as have hitherto been 

 observed^ a great general similarity. 



The Grey Shrike is a native of most parts of 

 Europe, but is by no means common in our own 

 country, into which it is supposed to migrate in 

 the spring, and ta depart in the autumnal season. 

 In the British Zoology it is thus described by Mr. 

 Pennant. " This bird weighs three ounces: its 

 length is ten inches: its breadth fourteen: its bill 

 black, one inch long, and hooked at the end; the 

 upper mandible furnished with a sharp process: 

 the nostrils are oval, covered with black bristles 



