104 THE BIRDS OF ESSEX.
Brentwood has one shot at Brook Street in Oct., 1887. It is killed most winters
in the Colchester district (Laver). Mr. Main of Walton killed one there about
the middle of Oct., 1889. Mr. Stacey of Dunmow has one caught in a bush there
several years ago. Mr. Kerry records a male shot at Harwich on Dec. 7th, 1889,
which had an entire Sky-lark's foot in its stomach (40. xiv. 20), and he informs
me that another was seen there on the 16th. Mr, Pettitt received a female, shot
at Halstead two days later.
J. D. Hoy says (12.iv. p. 341) : " Seldom a season passes without my observ-
ing the bird in this neighbourhood. A friend of mine assures me he has seen it
in Essex, near Colchester, in the month of June, that he had a good view of the
bird, and could not be mistaken, but I consider it merely an accidental occurrence."
W. D. King writes (20) :
" Last summer (1837), whilst walking near Chilton Hall, my brother's atten-
tion was attracted by the clamour of a group of small birds. Cautiously
approaching the spot, he soon discovered the cause of the uproar in one of these
Shrikes, upon whose character the surrounding group appeared to be earnestly
and angrily descanting. At the same time he observed a pair of Red-backed
Shrikes sitting upon a neighbouring hedge."
Chilton Hall lies only a few miles beyond the Essex boundary. Yarrell says
(14. i. 150), "On two occasions it has been seen in Essex during summer by
observers who know this bird well." More says (33. 17), "Yarrell mentions its
occurrence during summer in Essex and Northumberland." Mr. Hope also
writes: " Not uncommon in Essex ; have seen it about breeding time, but have
never found the nest."
A more recent instance of its occurrence in Essex during the summer is
mentioned in a letter to me from Mr. Spalding of Colchester, who writes :—
"On Sunday, May 12th, 1889, when walking from Kelvedon Station to-
wards Prested Hall, Feering, on the Colchester high-road, we saw a Greater
Shrike sitting on the telegraph wire. We got quite close, but it flew along a
hedge in an adjoining field, and though we looked closely, we failed to get a
second sight of it."
Mr. Clarke writes me that he believes it bred near Audley End on one occa-
sion many years ago. The son of a baker, named Bush, took a nest belonging
to " a great slate-coloured bird," and brought the eggs to the Walden Museum
for comparison. They were, in Mr. Clarke's opinion, undoubtedly those of this
species, but he could not persuade the boy to part with them.
Greater Grey Shrike : Latirus excubitor-major.
Probably not much less common during winter than the form
mentioned above, but from which it is not often distinguished. It
is the Eastern and Siberian form of the common Great Grey Shrike,
and can only be regarded as sub-specifically distinct from that bird,
though some writers have raised it to full specific rank. In Scan-
dinavia, both species meet and freely interbreed, producing inter-
mediate forms. Typical specimens may be chiefly distinguished
by their wing-spots, the true L. excubitor having two : the sub-species,
only one. I have myself only identified two Essex examples of
the latter form ; but no doubt an examination would show that many
of the specimens mentioned above belong to this form; while pos-
sibly some might be found to belong to an allied, but much rarer,