12 ON BOSTON COMMON. 



twitter by the half hour in the very coldest 

 weather. But further discussion concerning 

 the bird's identity was soon rendered needless ; 

 for, while we were talking, along came a spar- 

 row, and dropped carelessly into a hawthorn 

 bush, right under the shrike's perch. The lat- 

 ter was all attention instantly, and, after wait- 

 ing till the sparrow had moved a little out of 

 the thick of the branches, down he pounced. 

 He missed his aim, or the sparrow was too 

 quick for him, and although he made a second 

 swoop, and followed that by a hot chase, he 

 speedily came back without his prey. This lit- 

 tle exertion, however, seemed to have provoked 

 his appetite ; for, instead of resuming his cof- 

 fee-tree perch, he went into the hawthorn, and 

 began to feed upon the carcass of a bird which, 

 it seemed, he had previously laid up in store. 

 He was soon frightened off for a few moments 

 by the approach of a third man, and the police- 

 man improved the opportunity to visit the bush 

 and bring away his breakfast. When the fel- 

 low returned and found his table empty, he did 

 not manifest the slightest disappointment (the 

 shrike never does ; he is a fatalist, I think) ; 

 but in order to see what he would do, the po- 

 liceman tossed the body to him. It lodged on 

 one of the outer twigs, and immediately the 

 shrike came for it; at the same time spread- 



