. An illustrated manual of British birds . ts congeners, itimpales its prey on thorns. The alarm-note is a harsh chack, but themale has a rather sweet song, and is also a good mimic. The adult male has the frontal band, lores and ear-coverts black;crown and nape grey; mantle chestnut-brown ; wing-feathers darkbrown edged with rufous ; tail-coverts grey ; tail-feathers—exceptthe central pair which are mostly black—white at their bases andblack on the distal portion, the whole with black shafts and narrowwhite tips; chin white; under parts rose-buff; bill, legs and feetblack. Length 7 in. ; wing
. An illustrated manual of British birds . ts congeners, itimpales its prey on thorns. The alarm-note is a harsh chack, but themale has a rather sweet song, and is also a good mimic. The adult male has the frontal band, lores and ear-coverts black;crown and nape grey; mantle chestnut-brown ; wing-feathers darkbrown edged with rufous ; tail-coverts grey ; tail-feathers—exceptthe central pair which are mostly black—white at their bases andblack on the distal portion, the whole with black shafts and narrowwhite tips; chin white; under parts rose-buff; bill, legs and feetblack. Length 7 in. ; wing 37 in. The female ordinarily has theupper parts and tail russet-brown with faint crescentic bars on themantle, and the under parts bufifish-white with greyish-brown semilunarbars ; but instances are on record of the assumption of a plumagesimilar to that of the male. The young bird is whiter on the fore-head, duller and less rufous-brown on thQ upper parts, more barredboth above and below, and the legs are iron-grey. LAN II :. 145. THE WOODCHAT. Lanius , Sparrman. Although a common species durhig the breeding-season on theopposite shores of the Continent, the Woodchat Shrike only crossesthe narrow seas at irregular intervals, and not more than thirtyexamples are known to have been obtained in England duringthe last hundred years. The majority of these have been noticedin the southern and eastern districts, and generally at the time ofmigration ; but there is evidence that the bird has nested twicenear Freshwater in the Isle of Wight, and westward, it has beenknown to occur as far as Cornwall. Northward, it lias been identi-fied on rare occasions up to Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cumberlandand Northumberland ; but there is no proof that it has visitedScotland or Ireland. On the Continent the Woodchat breeds as far to the north-eastas the line of the Baltic and the valley of the Vistula, beyondwhich it is of accidental occurrence; while southward it is generallydistr
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookidillustra, booksubjectbirds
