BRITISH BIRDS. 2/ 



the male, measuring nearly an inch more, and weighing 

 considerably heavier. 



The shrikes all feed on insects, small birds, and reptiles, 

 and are consequently of much use to farmers and gardeners, 

 for they are not strong enough to attack the young of the 

 domestic poultry successfully, or, at least, of the larger 

 kinds of game, though they may occasionally secure a 

 very young quail or partridge. 



A curious fact connected with their feeding is that they 

 all have a habit of transfixing on a sharp thorn any prey 

 they do not require for immediate consumption, a custom 

 of theirs that has won for them the name of butcher-birds. 



The grey shrike frequents groves and woods of small 

 extent, and builds in the fork of a tree, laying four or five 

 eggs. Sometimes it remains in the spot it has selected all 

 the year through ; but the tlusher, or red-backed shrike, is 

 migratory, arriving in spring, and taking its departure in 

 autumn. 



All three can be easily tamed, and have a sufficiently 

 agreeable song, but they cannot be kept in the company of 

 other birds even larger than themselves. 



In the house they may be fed on the offal of poultry with 

 an occasional mouse, but if beetles and meal worms can also 

 be freely given, the change will have a beneficial eflect. 



THE WAXWING. 



This can scarcely be called a British bird, seeing 

 that it does not visit us regularly, but only occasion- 

 ally in the winter time. However, as it is classed with our 

 native birds, it has been decided to include a brief notice 

 of it in the present work. It is the sole representative 

 of its family, and comes here from its true home in the 

 distant north. 



