THE WHITE-RUMPED SHRIKE. 



355 



audience which Die Bull secured Ijy awkwariHx' breaking one siring after an- 

 other on his \"iolin. till only ( me was left. There, howe\-er, the resemblance 

 ceases, for where the virtuoso could extract a melody of marvelous varietv and 

 sweetness from his single string, the bird produces the sole note of a struck 

 an\-il. Tliis poiu's forth in successi\-e three-syllabled phrases like the metallic 

 and reiterati\-e clink of a freely falling hammer. The chief difference which 



Taken in Doughs Ccvnty- 



fhotn by n. 



THE SHRIKE'S PRESERVE. 



appears between this love song and tlie ordinary call of warning or excitement 

 is that in the latter case the less tender passions have weighted the clanging 

 an\-il with scrap iron and destroyed its resonance. 



The Shrike is a bird of prey but he is no restless prowler or ho\'erer, wear- 

 ing out his wings with incessant flight — not he. Choosing rather a commanding 

 position on a telegraph wire, or exposed bush top, he searches the ground with 

 his eye until he detects some suspicious mo\'ement of insect, mouse, or Ijird. 

 Then he di\'es down amongst the sage, and if successful returns to his post to 

 devour at leisure. The bird does not remain long enough at one station to in- 

 spire a permanent dread in the local population of comestibles : but rathermoves 

 on from jiost to post at short intervals and in methodical fashion. In flight the 



