62 
THE RED-BACKED SHRIKE. 
female has the colours duller, the back more 
tinted with gray, and the under parts barred 
with blackish brown, the ground colour being of 
a more yellow or grayish white, and without any 
appearance of the delicate blush colour seen in 
the male. In the young birds, the upper parts 
and auriculars are yellowish brown, tinted with 
gray, having each feather barred transversely at 
the tip with umber brown, followed at the extre- 
mity with pale wood brown, altogether shewing 
rather close undulations ; above the eye there is 
a yellowish white streak ; the under parts are of 
the same colour, nearly unspotted on the throat 
and centre of the belly, but having the flanks and 
breast of a darker tint, and transversely barred 
with umber brown. The tail is of a uniform 
yellowish brown, darker at the tip, and having 
the two outer feathers edged with white.* 
The length of the adult male is about six 
inches. 
The Woodchat, Lanius rufus, Brisson 
L. rufus, Eriss. L. rutilus, Lath. ind. — Wood- 
chat , or Woodchat Shrike of British authors. 
— The Woodchat, until of late years, was not 
admitted to a place in the British Fauna. Some 
of the older ornithologists, most probably, were 
acquainted with it, but as no authentic specimen 
* The description of the young is taken from a specimen 
procured on the Continent. 
