94 
MYIOTHERIN^. 
43. Lanius Collurio. Red-backed Shrike. 
Male with the back and wing-coverts brownish-red, the 
crown of the head, hind neck, and rump ash-grey, the breast j 
and sides rose-coloured ; a broad band of black from the bill | 
to behind the ear ; tail white, towards the end blackish-brown, | 
of which colour are the two middle feathers. Female with i; 
the upper parts reddish-brown, the hind neck tinged with ' 
grey ; the lower parts greyish -white, transversely undulated i| 
with dusky. Young dull reddish-brown above, the hind necki; 
and rump tinged with grey, the lower parts greyish-white, the ' 
breast and sides with dark brown undulated semicircular lines, = 
of which there are tAvo on each feather. 
Male, 12, y®^. Feniule, 7^? 12^. 
Not uncommon in the southern parts of England, becoming i 
rarer as we proceed northwards, and not hitherto observed in ' 
Scotland. It frequents the margins of woods, thickets, and ; 
tall hedges, as well as open downs and commons, more or less i 
coA^ered with furze ; feeds on insects, and sometimes on birds ; 
nestles in hedges or bushes ; and lays five or six eggs, ten and ; 
a half tAvelfths long, seven-twelfths in breadth, light cream- 1 
coloured, sometimes tinged with blue, and marked Avith dots, > 
spots, and small patches of reddish-broAvn, and pale purplish - 1 
grey, generally scattered, but towards the larger end forming 
a broad ring. It arrives toward the middle of May, and de- ; 
parts in September. 
Red-backed Butcher-bird. Flusher. 
Lanius Collurio, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 136. — Lanius Collurio, ) 
Temm. Man. d’Ornith. — Lanius Collurio, Red-backgd Shrike, i 
Macgillivray, Brit. Birds, iii. 505. 
FAMILY X. MYIOTHEEINJE. FLYCHASEKS. : 
Body ovate, compact, or rather slender ; neck short ; 
head of moderate size, broadly ovate, rounded above. Bill 
straight, tapering, depressed, or much broader than high, 
compressed only at the end ; upper mandible with the 
ridge narrow, the sides sloping and convex, the edges 
sharp and deflected, the tip very narrow, deflected, gene- 
rally curved over that of the lower, the notches very 
small. Mouth wide ; tongue triangular, flat, emarginate 
and papillate at the base, its tip slit and lacerated ; oeso- 
