45 8 
PERCHING BIRDS. 
than the wings, and graduated, the central feathers being the longest. The 
relatively strong metatarsus and toes are of assistance in enabling the shrikes to 
retain hold of beetles and other insects. The great grey shrike inhabits Western 
and Central Europe, being replaced to the eastward chiefly by a single-barred 
species, which extends through Asia, merging into the great northern shrike of 
North America. The brightly-coloured shrikes belong chiefly to Africa. 
GREAT GREY SHRIKE AND RED-BACKED SHRIKE (J nat. size). 
Great Grey The great grey shrike (Lanius excubitor) is a common bird 
shrike. i n the northern and central parts of Europe, frequenting the skirts 
of forests in the summer. It is a shy and retiring species when unmolested, but 
when it has lost its nest or young becomes most vociferous. Willughby was 
perhaps the first English naturalist to describe the employment of this shrike in 
the capture of passage-falcons. On the Rhine they are persecuted by the game- 
keepers, and the shrike that has lost his mate will often fly to the top of a 
very tall poplar tree and thence pour forth his woes. The plan adopted for 
