[First found in a posthumous work of Ray’s (see first quot.), where it appears to be for *wood-cat, a literal rendering of G. waldkatze (Naumann) or waldkater (Brehm): thus not connected with CHAT sb.2] A species of shrike, Lanius rutilus (rufus, or auriculatus), a rare summer visitor to England; also called woodchat-shrike.
a. 1705. Ray, Synops. Meth. Av. (1713), 19. The lesser Ash-coloured Butcher-bird with a white Spot on each Shoulder: The Wood-chat.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist., V. 136. The woodchat resembles the former [red backed butcher-bird] except in the colour of the back, which is brown, and not red as in the other.
1781. Latham, Syn. Birds, I. I. 169. Wood chat shrike. La Pie-griesche rousse.
1862. Wood, Illustr. Nat. Hist., II. 376. The Woodchat Shrike has occasionally but very rarely been found in England.
1894. Newton, Dict. Birds, 845. The Woodchat,… with a bright bay crown and nape, and the rest of its plumage black, grey and white.
