AND IRELAND OP THE RED-BACKED SHRIKE. 
287 
The present paper is the result of my researches and enquiries. 
Having put together under the heads of the counties of England 
and Wales, and of Scotland and Ireland, all the matter bearing 
upon the subject which I could find in the works upon British 
Birds (especially the local avi-faunal books), and in some 
periodicals, <fcc., &c., I endeavoured to supplement the information 
so obtained with the unpublished evidence of naturalists residing 
in dilferent parts of the country. With this end in view I asked, 
through the medium of the ‘Field’ and the ‘Zoologist,’ for 
information upon the subject ; and I gladly take this opportunity 
of thanking those observers who kindly responded to my request, 
as well as my numerous ornithological acquaintances and corres- 
pondents to whom I was able to make individual applications, and 
who have furnished me with a large amount of data. 
It is almost impossible to give, shortly , an accurate account of 
the British distribution of this bird ; but roughly speaking, it may 
be said that the Red-backed Shrike is little more than a casual 
visitor to Northumberland and Durham ; and although it breeds 
occasionally (possibly annually) in parts of Cumberland, West- 
morland, Yorkshire, and Lancashire, it cannot be considered as 
other than a rare bird in those counties. From Anglesea, the 
northern parts of Carnarvon and Denbigh, and from Flintshire, 
1 have no records of its occurrence ; and the evidence from 
Cheshire militates against its visiting that county; while in the 
northern portions of the counties of Derby, Nottingham, and 
Lincoln it is a decidedly rare bird, and in some parts seems 
unknown, except, perhaps, as a passing autumnal migrant. Indeed, 
one may almost say that latitude 53° marks off the country south 
of which the Red-backed Shrike is a common summer migrant ; 
but a boundary line drawn here would, of course, have to be 
deflected in places. Turning to the south-west we find it rare in 
Pembrokeshire, Cornwall, and South-west Devon. Possibly longi- 
tude 4° 5' W. might be laid down as a western boundary, beyond 
which it ceases to be a regular and common visitor, but as in the 
case of its northern confines no very strictly defined marches can 
be prescribed. Over the rest of England and Wales we find the 
Butcher-bird occurring as a regular summer visitor, breeding 
annually in larger or smaller numbers, but over the whole of its 
range preserving its character of an extremely, almost capriciously, 
