48 
A. F. CROSSMAN-NOTES ON BIRDS 
the ‘ Field ’ newspaper from a Mr. C. H. Emson, which ran as 
follows:—“For three-quarters of an hour on the afternoon of 
March 18th [1900] I had under observation a Grey Shrike. I am 
unable to particularize further, because I could not determine by 
close observation whether the bird was the Great Grey Shrike 
(Z. excubitor) or Pallas’ Grey Shrike (Z. major ), though I should 
judge it to have been the former; it was certainly not the Lesser 
Grey Shrike (Z. minor), as I could plainly see there was no trace 
of black on the forehead. I was attracted to the bird by seeing 
it sit in a conspicuous position on the top of a large thorn bush. 
The locality was Berkhamsted Common, Herts. Whatever its 
exact species it was a male in beautiful plumage. It was not 
at all shy, and was evidently enjoying the warmth of the declining 
sun in a sheltered part of the common. Its movements were 
eminently shrike-like ; its tail was held out almost horizontally, 
with just a slight up and down motion, and it now and then flew 
down to the ground and back again to its perch. What delighted 
and surprised me most was to hear it uttering melodious notes in 
a subdued tone which must fairly be dignified with the name of 
a song, mingled with harsher sounds. I stalked it several times 
to get a closer view, but could never get more than a side or front 
view, as in flight it was always against the sky, so that I could not 
distinguish details of plumage. It always alighted on the summit 
of a thorn bush. Once when it passed over my head, its long 
graduated tail was very conspicuous. I followed it until it became 
too dusk to distinguish details. I think it must have been Lanius 
excubitor ; but, as I have said, I could not get a sufficiently clear 
view of its open wings to see whether they had a single or a double 
bar, nor to distinguish the pattern of the secondaries.” When 
I read the above letter I very much envied Mr. Emson’s good luck, 
little thinking that I should see the same or a similar bird on the 
same common. However, on April 7 th I was crossing North church 
Common on a bicycle on my way to Bedford, when I caught 
a glimpse of a very light-coloured bird sitting on the top of 
a thorn bush. I immediately thought of the shrike, and, leaving 
my machine and taking out my field-glasses, I proceeded to examine 
it. When I first caught sight of the bird, it was sitting on the 
top of a thorn bush with its white breast showing up in a very 
conspicuous manner. It had two wing-spots which enabled me 
to identify the bird as probably Z. excubitor. The tail seemed 
very long, and the black and white on the wings and tail were 
very conspicuous when the bird was flying. It generally sat on 
a bough with its body much bent forward, and when seen on the 
top of a tree against the sky, which was very dark and stormy, 
the bird looked splendid. This shrike has occurred on many 
occasions in Hertfordshire, but unfortunately the actual species 
has rarely been ascertained. 
Pied Flycatcher (Muscicapa atricapilla ).—On April 8th the 
Hon. A. Holland-Hibbert saw a male pied flycatcher in his garden 
at Munden where the river Colne passes through it. This is an 
