214 GREAT SHRIKE. Class II. 



very thick and ftrong; which makes the head very 

 large. This apparatus is quite requifite in a fpe- 



Manners. cies whofe method of killing its prey is fo fingular, 

 and whofe manner of devouring it is not lefs extra- 

 ordinary : fmall birds it will feize by the throat, 

 and flrangle * ; which probably is the reafon the 

 Germans call this bird IVurchangel f , or the fuffo- 

 cating angel. It feeds on fmall birds, young neft- 

 lings, beetles and caterpillars. When it has killed 

 the prey, it fixes them on fome thorn, and when 

 thus fpitted pulls them to pieces with its bill : oa 

 this account the Germans call it 'Thorntrder and 

 ^hornfreker. We have feen them, when confined 

 in a cage, treat their food in much the fame man- 

 ner, fiicking it againft the wires before they would 

 devour it. Mr. Edwards very juftly imagines that 

 as nature has not given thefe birds (treno-th fuffici- 

 ent to tear their prey to pieces with their feet, as 

 the hawks do, they are obliged to have recourfe 

 to this artifice. 



It makes its neft with heath and mofs, lining 

 it with wool and goflamer ; and lays fix eggs, of 

 a dull olive green, fpotted at the thickeft end with 

 black. 



Descrip. The crown of the head, the back, and the co- 



verts that lie immediately on the joints of the 

 wings are afh-colored ; the reft of the coverts black : 

 the quil feathers are black, marked in their middle 



* Edv:. Gl. III. 233. t ini. orn. 87. 



with 



