298 MR. O. V. APLIN ON THE DISTRIBUTION IN OREAT BRITAIN 
brought to him to name he seldom sees those of this species 
(in lit.). 
Monmouthshire. Mr. C. Parkinson, of Worcester, found a nest 
in May, 1890, in this county (in lit.). 
Worcestershire. Mr. C. Parkinson, of Worcester, writes : 
“ Appears to be increasing in our orchard country . . . . 
I have watched the same pair return three years in succession to 
breed at Powick, near Worcester ” (in lit.). 
Mr. Lionel Talbot, of Worcester, writes : “ Some twenty years 
ago Shrikes were quite common here. The eggs were about as 
common as a Pied Wagtail’s, and rather more common than 
a Long-tailed Tit’s or a Jay’s. The bird seems to have got steadily 
rarer, until the last year or so. Eggs were sometimes brought to 
me to name ; and boys regarded them as something very rare 
. . . . In the last two years I am certain many more have 
nested in this neighbourhood. I saw a good many in 1889, but 
from various causes did not look after their nests. Last spring 
(1890) I had two nests in a quarter of a mile from my house, and 
I knew of four or five more in a circle of perhaps two or three 
miles” (in lit.). 
Miss Kuth Prescott Decie writes from Broekleton Court, 
Tenbury : “ Though always scarce, used to be seen occasionally 
by some of us in this corner of Worcestershire till within the last 
few years, when they seem to have disappeared. One pair used 
to build year after year about three miles from here, in Herefordshire 
that was (for we are just on the borders of the two counties), till 
the)’’ were too much disturbed by ” boys (in lit.). 
Mr. J. S. Elliott, of Sutton Coldfield, reports it as “common. 
Earliest arrival, May 1st, 1890, Wyre Forest. Out of several nests 
taken at Shipston-on-Stour one contained seven eggs” (in lit.). 
Mr. F. Coburn, of Birmingham, writes of Worcestershire. 
“Throughout the whole district bordering upon the north-west of 
Birmingham Lanms coHurio breeds in moderate numbers, in some 
parts more plentifully than others, noticeably so from North field 
to Ilopwood. Here they have appeared every summer in 
abundance for many years past, but, it is said, in slowly de- 
creasing numbers.” They were plentiful in the summer of 1891 
(in lit.). 
Warwickshire. Mr. G. E. H. Barrett-Hamilton informs me, 
