RED-BACKED SHRIKE.
Y CIGYDD CEENGOCH, IN ANCIENT BRITISH.
CHEETER. FLUSHER. LESSER BUTCHER BIRD. MURDERING PIE. JACK BAKER. WHISKEY JOHN. NINE-KILLER.
Lanius collurio, PENNANT. MONTAGU. BEWICK.
Lanius—A butcher. Collurio— ?

The species before us is a native of the three quarters of the globe which comprise the old world, being found in Europe, in France, Spain, Germany, and Italy, and even northward, in Russia, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. It is met with in Egypt, the rest of the north of Africa, and so far south as the Cape of Good Hope, as well as in the intermediate parts; in Asia also, in Asia Minor, and in Persia, Palestine, and Siberia, and Meyer says that it is a native of North America.
This bird is far from uncommon in the south of England, and occurs, though sparingly, towards the north. In Yorkshire it has been frequently seen in the West-Riding, being met with, as I am informed, by Mr. Allis, senior, occasionally near Huddersfield and York, not very uncommonly near Sheffield and Doncaster, (though I have never seen it near the latter place myself,) and he says that it breeds also occasionally near Halifax, but is becoming scarce. In the East-Riding I have only seen one, namely, in the parish of Kilnwick Percy, near Pocklington, in the year 1857. In Dorsetshire I have seen it as a common species; I have also observed it in Kent. In Lincolnshire it has been noticed at Tetney and Alford. In Cornwall, rarely, one at Constantine. In Hampshire, in Sydney Lodge grounds, near Southampton, August 4th., 1833.
It is found in Wiltshire, Sussex, Essex, Gloucestershire, Suffolk, near Woodbridge, etc, Derbyshire, Norfolk, Middlesex, and other southern counties. In Surrey it is common, as near Egham, Cowper's Hill, and elsewhere; occasionally in Westmoreland, where, at Ambleside, I saw one or more which had been obtained near that town, and I think the person who had it or them, told me that they were not very unfrequent about there; Northumberland, Cumberland—in which county I have also been informed by Mrs. C. A. Baker, of Ellerslie, near Whitehaven, that the nest with eggs has been found by her son—and Durham. (Since the above remark was made in the first edition, I have been informed by Mr. Alexander Lillie, of the Manse of Wick, Caithnesshire, of one seen by himself there in 1860.) It appears also to have been noticed there so long ago as the year 1817, when a pair were shot at Hawick, and others in and since the year 1833. In the Shetland Islands, one in 1866, and in Unst one in June, 1870, and a hen bird and three young were seen for three weeks, as if they had bred there; also in Wales, at Llandudno, etc.; but has not as yet been observed in Ireland and Scotland, which is rather singular, as the latitude of its European range is higher.
They frequent hedgerows principally, but also the sides of coppices and woods, and such places as an old deserted quarry or lime pit, in all of which I have often seen them. They are seldom found among trees of large growth, and are generally seen in pairs. Mr. Mudie's account of the locality of this species is one of the most extraordinary of the many extraordinary ones he has promulgated. He says that though it is a short-winged bird, and therefore 'gets through the air with more labour' than many of the birds which are found in the south-eastern part of the island, it 'leaves the gravelly and clayey districts, and takes up its abode in a central zone, beginning at the channels and terminating at the light soils,' He has himself correctly described this as 'the most remarkable part of its natural history,'— 'the climate of that zone is warm, and the soil peculiarly adapted to the habits of the larger beetles, which seem the natural and peculiar food of these birds.' He very properly adds that the 'habits of the Red-backed Shrike deserve to be studied.' Its name of 'Flusher,' he considers to be a corruption of 'Flasher,' from its looking like a 'flash of fire' in darting through the air; but I think it much more probable that it is derived from 'Flesher,' another word for a butcher, the name of the bird itself.
The Red-backed Shrike arrives in this country at the end of April or the beginning of May, and quits it again in September or October. Mr. Couch mentions that a young Shrike was brought to him on the 25th. of August, 1845, which had been taken the preceding night, on board a fishing boat at sea, about four or five miles from land.
This species also seems to be distinguished for affection towards its partner and its young. The following anecdote, illustrative of this its disposition, is recorded by Meyer:—"A male Red-backed Shrike was caught in a garden by a cat; the gardener, who saw the circumstance, succeeded in rescuing it from the animal the very moment it happened, in time to save its life. It was put into a cage and placed in a sitting-room, in the house close by.
There were several persons in the room at the time; but notwithstanding their moving about, the female, its companion, came in at the window, settled on the cage, and was secured by one of the party, without attempting to fly away; they were subsequently both placed in the same cage,' He further adds—'the female will hardly fly from the nest when she has eggs; and if disturbed after the young are hatched, both parents remain either in the bush that contains the nest, or on a neighbouring tree, until the danger is past, and, to draw off attention from the spot, they keep moving in opposite directions, uttering all the while their alarm-cry.
We have seen them help the young ones out of the nest for the purpose of hiding them in the thicket beneath, and the moment they have reached the ground, not another chirp is heard from the nestlings, which have apparently received a signal to be quiet, although the parent birds, perched in a tree at a little distance, keep up a continual clamour.'
It has a habit of moving its tail rapidly from side to side, and twirling it about when excited by the appearance of danger. It is easily tamed.
The food of the Red-backed Shrike consists of mice, small birds, such as finches and others—one has been seen pursuing a blackbird— frogs and lizards, but principally of grasshoppers, beetles, dragon-flies, cockchaffers, and other insects. Occasionally they are taken in the nets of fowlers, in the act of striking at their decoy birds. They may usually be seen perched on some small isolated spray of a hedge or bush, from whence they dart after their prey, very much after the manner of the flycatchers. In flying from one place to another they first drop downwards, and after arriving at their destination, rise upwards again to the spot where they wish to perch.
Most extraordinary is the manner of feeding of the Butcher Birds —whence their name. Occasionally, indeed—perhaps it may be that they are then unusually hungry—they hold the bird or insect they have killed between their claws, or fix it between two stones, or in some narrow place, and pull it to pieces after the manner of the Hawks, breaking the skull, and eating the head first as the most choice morsel. In general, however, after killing their prey, they fix it in its proper attitude on a thorn, or in the cleft of the small branches of a tree, and making these serve as the tenter hooks of a larder, garnish the hedge with their game, and consume it ' secundum artem.' Nay, it has been imagined that they also use such as baits to entice small birds within range, for otherwise the latter are shy of their company, and shew their dislike, if one approaches, by sounds of anger or distress. They are said to have been known to pull young pheasants through the bars of a coop, and are strongly suspected of making free with the nestlings of other birds, when the parents are from home. One was found to have been fixing three frogs and three mice on a hedge.
In confinement their habit is the same with regard to their prey, as that of the preceding species.
The indigestible part of the food is disgorged from the mouth of the Shrikes in small pellets, after the manner of the Hawks and Owls.
The Red-backed Shrike makes some pretensions to be a song bird, but its vocal powers, though described as pleasing, are not of first-rate order. The note resembles that of the sparrow, which is not preeminent for excellence, but it occasionally warbles a little, and is said to imitate the voices of other birds. The clamorous habit spoken of under the account of the Grey Shrike, is not peculiar to it, but attaches also to the one before us: it seems to run in the family. They are particularly attentive to their young, feeding them after they have left the nest.
The nest is placed without much attempt at concealment, in a hedge or bush. It is large for the size of the bird, being from six to seven inches across, somewhat deep like a cup, and is composed of the stalks of plants, small roots, grass, wool, and moss. It is lined with slender roots, and occasionally, it is said with hair. The edge of the top rather projects over the side. A nest of this species was taken at Swanscombe, in Kent, in 1848, on a high branch of an elm twenty feet from the ground.
G. Grantham, Esq., of Borcombe Place, Lewes, has favoured me with the egg of this bird, which I have often in former years taken myself, more or less spotted with red. In general they are pale reddish white, spotted with two shades of darker red and reddish brown, and the base is encircled by a belt, formed of an irregular conglomeration of the same. Occasionally they are pale bluish white, and white, and sometimes yellowish olive, or greenish white, spotted with olive brown, lilac, grey, or rufous. Some are of a salmon-coloured ground with blots and markings of two shades of light red and lilac, often forming a band or belt. They are five or six in number. The band already alluded to has been in some cases found at the narrow end.
The old and young birds keep up the family connection until the time for migration has arrived. The latter do not moult until after they have left this country, but return in the garb of their perfect birdhood.
Male; weight, eight drachms; length, about seven inches or seven and a half; bill, bright black, strong, thick, much hooked, curved, and notched near the point—a black band runs from over the bill, above and below the eye to the nape. Iris, reddish brown; forehead, black; head, bluish grey, sometimes tinged with yellowish; neck, white on the sides; nape, bluish grey, sometimes tinged with yellowish; chin, nearly white; throat, white; breast, pale yellowish pink; back, rufous on the upper part, but lower down bluish grey. The wings expand to the width of about twelve inches and a quarter; greater and lesser wing coverts, rufous; primaries, dusky black, edged with rufous on the outer web; the first feather is not half as long as the second, the second and fourth nearly equal, the third the longest in the wing. Secondaries, the same, with the margins broader; tertiaries, bordered with rufous as the secondaries. The tail, which extends about an inch and a half beyond the wings, and consists of twelve feathers, has the two middle ones black; all the rest white at the base, and black towards the end, 'fine by degrees and beautifully less,' until the outside feather on each side, which is about a quarter of an inch shorter than the others, making it slightly wedge-shaped, retains only a single dark spot—all are tipped with white; the shafts are black; upper tail coverts, bluish grey, with a dash of red; beneath, it is the same, but less distinct; under tail coverts, white. Legs, black, long, and slender; toes and claws, black.
The female in very old age assumes, at all events occasionally, the plumage of the male, but in general she differs much: her weight about ten drachms; bill, dark brown—the base of the lower part yellowish white. Iris, dark brown; over the eye is a light streak—no dark one—a brown streak below it; head, ferruginous brown. Neck and nape, ferruginous brown, tinged with grey below; chin, dull white; throat, greyish white; breast, greyish white, the feathers margined with a semicircular dusky line; back, ferruginous brown above, lower down with a tinge of grey. Primaries, secondaries, and tertiaries, dusky black with narrow rufous margins; tail, ferruginous, the outer web of each outside feather and the tips, dull white; underneath, it is grey, tipped with white; under tail coverts, dull white. Legs and toes, blackish brown.
The young nearly resemble the female. Over the eye there is a yellowish white streak; breast, above yellowish white, below the same, barred with brown on each feather. The feathers on the lower part of the back have a narrow dark border, the rest of the back is yellowish brown tinged with grey, and the feathers barred at the tip with brown, edged with a lighter shade. Tail, yellowish brown, darker at the tip, the two outer feathers edged with white.A variety of this bird has been met with near Lewes, of a uniform pale fawn-colour.

"With eager eye, and half expanded wings,
The Butcher Bird sits watching for its prey,
Amid the sunshine of a summer's day,
And many a wary glance around he flings."
H. G. ADAMS,