iGa 
allen’s naturalist’s library. 
doubtedly beetles (which swarm to a incredible extent in these 
climates), butterflies, grasshoppers, and other insects. The 
flight of this Shrike, like that of its congeners, is undulatory, 
but easy and comparatively noiseless ; and it skims through the 
air like a Partridge for a moment or two before it alights on 
some perch, on to which it drops with a scuffle of the wings. 
The song of the Lesser Grey Shrike is a not unmusical 
chatter, something like the twitter of the Swallow or Starling, 
but louder and mixed with some harsher notes. It has a 
variety of notes, some very harsh, which are probably alarm 
notes, and others somewhat plaintive, which may be call-note s. 
This bird is said occasionally to impale insects on thorns, as 
most of its congeners are in the habit of doing.” 
Nest. — Like that of other Shrikes, composed of moss with 
twigs and rootlets, and lined with wool, hair and a few feathers. 
Mr. Seebohm describes one taken by himself in Greece as 
follows : “ With the exception of a twig or two, a piece of 
flag-like rush, and a little wool at the foundation, the w'hole 
nest is composed of a downy-leaved cudweed ( Gnaphah'um 
dioicnm ), some in flower and some in seed, and most of them 
pu'led up by the root.” 
Eggs. — From four to seven in number. The ground-colour 
varies from greenish-white to pale greenish-blue. In both 
these types of egg the markings are much the same, being 
brown or greenish-brown, with the underlying markings of 
light purplish-grey very distinctly indicated. In nearly every 
case the markings cluster more thickly round the larger end of 
the egg, but sometimes the whole of the egg is spotted. Axis, 
o'9-i o inch; diam., 07-075. 
THE GREAT GREY SHRIKE. LANIUS EXCUBITOR. 
Lanius excubitor, Linn., S. N., i., p. 135 (1766) ; Macg., Br. B., 
iii., p. 492 (iS ;o) ; Dresser, B. Eur., iii., p. 375, pi. 145 
(1871); Newt. ed. Yarr., i., p. 199 (1872) ; Seebohm, Br. 
B., i., p. 598 (1883); B. O. U. List Br. B., p. 37 (1883); 
Gadow, Cat. B. Brit. Mus., viii., p. 237 (1883); Lilford, 
Col. Fig. Br. B., pt. viii. (188S); Saunders, Man., p. 139 
(1889). 
Adult Male. — General colour above blue-grey or French-grey ; 
