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THE WOOD CHAT SHRIKE. 
In many districts of the European Continent the Woodchat Shrike is a common bird, 
especially preferring the warmer and more southern districts. In many parts of Africa it is 
extremely plentiful, being particularly abundant in Northern Africa. It is also seen at the 
Cape of Good Hope. On account of their habit of hanging and impaling, the Shrikes are 
known at the Cape by the popular name of Magistrate Birds. The nest of the Woodchat 
Shrike is made rather more neatly than that of the red-backed species, and is always placed on 
the branch of a tree, the oak being preferred for this purpose. The materials of which it is 
made are pine-twigs, moss, and wool, and it is lined with wool and slender grasses. The eggs 
are smaller than those of the last-mentioned bird and are quite as variable in their markings, 
the general color being very pale bluish-white speckled with rusty-brown. 
WOODCHAT SHKIKE .— Enneoctonus rufus. 
The coloring of the Woodchat Shrike is as follows : The top of the head and back of the 
neck are rich chestnut-red, a white streak runs across the base of the upper mandible, and a 
broad black band crosses the forehead and reaches as far as the ear-coverts, enveloping the eye 
in its progress. The back- wings and wing-coverts are black, relieved by the white feathers of 
the scapularies and upper tail-coverts. The primary feathers of the wings are also white at 
their base, and the secondaries are tipped with white. The two central tail-feathers are black, 
the two exterior feathers white, and the remainder are partly of one color and partly of the 
other. The whole of the under surface is white. In the female, the head and neck are dusky 
red, the back is brown-black, the wing-coverts are marked with rusty-red, and the breast is 
grayish-white. 
