182 CITIZEN BIRD 



guild of Wise Watchers catch their prey in both of 

 these ways, and most of them are cannibal birds." 



" What is a cannibal bird ? " asked Dodo. " I for- 

 get. I know that real cannibals are peoj^le that eat 

 other people. Do these birds eat people ? " 



" They eat birds and other small animals," said Rap. 

 " Don't you remember ? " 



" Why, of course I do," said Dodo. " But if Shrikes 

 eat birds, aren't they very bad Citizens ? " 



"I do not wonder that you think so, my lassie ; and 

 so they would be if they ate birds only ; but the Shrike 

 earns his right to be thought a good Citizen by devour- 

 ing mice and many kinds of insects, like beetles, which 

 injure orchards and gardens. The comparatively few 

 birds that he destroys are mostly seed-eaters — not the 

 most valuable kinds to the farmer. 



" In fact, the Shrike is especially useful in. helping 

 us to drive out the greedy, quarrelsome English Spar- 

 row. This disreputable tramp not only does no work 

 for his taxes — he hates honest work, like all vagrants 

 — but destroys the buds of trees and plants, devours 

 our grain crops, and drives away the industrious native 

 birds who are good Citizens ; so the Wise Men, who 

 have tried the Sparrow's case, say that he is a very bad 

 bird, who ought to suffer the extreme penalty of the 

 law. 



" For this reason we must forgive the Shrike if he 

 takes a few other birds when he is Iningry and in a 

 hurry. He has a strange habit which has earned for 

 him the name of lUitclier Bird. If at any time he 

 secures more food than he needs for his immediate use, 

 he puts it by to keep in ' cold storage ' by hanging it 



