THE WOODCHAT. 
63 
could be traced, it was with praiseworthy scrupu- 
losity excluded ; and nearly the first public record 
of a specimen being captured is in the second 
edition of Mr Selby’s British Ornithology. It is 
there introduced on the authority of Mr Lead- 
better, and of the Rev. Mr R. Hamand, of Swaf- 
fam. Since that, a few more instances have been 
noticed, and there are some interesting details pub- 
lished regarding it by Mr Hoy in the Magazine of 
Natural History ; but still it can only be viewed 
as a very rare British straggler, visiting us during 
the summer months. None of our writers dwell 
much on the habits of the Woodehat in this 
country, certainly from the want of opportunity 
to observe them. Mr Hoy, in the Magazine of 
Natural History, gives a few interesting particu- 
lars, though the authority on which he relies is not 
stated. According to that gentleman, the nest 
is placed “ invariably on trees,” the oak being 
selected in preference, it is composed on the 
outside of sticks and wool, mixed with the white 
moss from the bodies of the trees, and is lined 
with fine grass and wool. The eggs are de- 
scribed to be smaller, but somewhat similar to 
those of the red-backed shrike, and as variable in 
their markings.* 
The Woodehat ranges generally over the more 
temperate parts of the European Continent, but 
only becomes a common bird in the south. 
* Hoy, Mag. of Natural History, iv. p. 343. Observa- 
tions on British Shrikes. 
