68 CHARACTER IN FEATHERS. 



the watch for his prey? Indeed, sir, I wish 

 the innocent sparrows no harm ; and besides, 

 if you must know it, I ate an excellent game- 

 breakfast two hours ago, while laggards like 

 you were still abed." In the winter, which is 

 the only season when I have been able to ob- 

 serve him, the shrike is to the last degree un- 

 social, and I have known him to stay for a 

 month in one spot all by himself, spending a 

 good part of every day perched upon a tele- 

 graph wire. He ought not to be very happy, 

 with such a disposition, one would think ; but 

 he seems to be well contented, and sometimes 

 his spirits are fairly exuberant. Perhaps, as 

 the phrase is, he enjoys himself; in which case 

 he certainly has the advantage of most of us, 

 — unless, indeed, we are easily pleased. At 

 any rate, he is philosopher enough to appreci- 

 ate the value of having few wants ; and I am 

 not sure but that he anticipated the vaunted 

 discovery of Teufelsdrockh, that the fraction of 

 life may be increased by lessening the denomi- 

 nator. But even the stoical shrike is not with- 

 out his epicurean weakness. When he has 

 killed a sparrow, he eats the brains first ; after 

 that, if he is still hungry, he devours the coarser 

 and less savory parts. In this, however, he 

 only shares the well-nigh universal inconsis- 

 tency. There are never many thorough-going 



