80 



THE TYKAiNT SURIKE. 



THE TYRANT SHRIKE. 

 The coiirac^e of this bird is very remarkable. It is stated that he 

 will pursue, and is able to put to flight, all kinds of birds that ap- 



proacb his station, from the smallest to the largest, none escaping 

 his fury: "nor did I ever see (says Catesby in his account of South 

 Carolina) any that dared to oppose him while flying; for he does not 

 offer to attack them when sitting. I have seen one of them fix on 

 the back of an Eagle, and persecute him so, that he has turned on his 

 back, and into various postures in the air, in order to get rid of him; 

 and at last was forced to alight on the top of the next tree, from 

 which he dared not move till the little Tyrant was tired, or thought 

 fit to leave him. This is the constant practice of the cock while the 

 hen is brooding. He sits on the top of a bush, or small tree, not far 

 from her nest, near which, if any small birds approach, he drii'es 

 them away; but the great ones, as Crows, Hawks, and Eagles, he will 

 not suffer to come within a quarter of a mile of him without attack 

 ing them. These birds have only a chattering note, which they utter 

 with great vehemence all the time they are fighting. When their 

 young-ones are flown, they are as peaceable as other birds. 



From authority so deservedly great as that of Catesby, we cannot 

 but feel it unpleasant to dissent; but by a letter received by Dr. 

 Latham, from Mr. Abbot of Georgia, observations seems to have 

 been made somewhat different from the above: — "A Tyrant Shrike 

 (he says) having built its nest on the outside of a large lofty pine, I 

 was one day considering how I could procure the eggs; when, view- 

 ing the nest, 1 perceived a Crow alight on the branch, break and guck 



