GREAT CINEREOUS SHRIKE. 497 



much caro on clearing it of the hair or feathers, which, with 

 the undigested parts of insects, it afterwards ejects in pel- 

 lets. What remains after it is satisfied it hangs up ; and this 

 habit, together with its slaughtering propensity, has obtained 

 for it the not inappropriate names of Butcher Bird, Lanius, 

 and Thorn-kretzer, which are gejierically applied to the Shrikes, 

 most of which are similar in this respect. Selecting a station 

 on a twig or decayed branch, it sallies forth in pursuit of in- 

 sects which happen to pass near, and it is probably from its 

 remaining so perched for a long time that it has obtained the 

 name of Excubitor, or the Sentinel ; although another mode of 

 accounting for this appellation has reference to its being em- 

 ployed on the continent in trapping hawks, when, being fas- 

 tened to the ground, it apprises the falconer, by its loud screams, 

 of the approach of a bird. Its flight is undulated, or perform- 

 ed in a waving line, and when searching for prey it occasion- 

 ally hovers in the manner of a hawk. Although it is generally 

 represented as carrying its prey in its bill, it appears that some- 

 times it employs its feet for that purpose. Mr Thomas Fen- 

 ton, preserver of animals in Edinburgh, informs me that eight 

 years ago, being out with a young man, Francis Dick, about 

 half a mile to the north of Dundee, he was surprised to see a 

 Grey Butcher- Bird fly out of a hedge with a bird dangling in 

 its talons. His companion shot at but missed it, on wdiich it 

 flew to some distance, and alighted in a field, wdien they suc- 

 ceeded in shooting it. Its ordinary notes resemble the sylla- 

 bles wee, wee, pronounced loudly and sharply, and in anger it 

 screams like a hawk ; but it emits various sounds, and is said 

 by several authors to imitate the notes and cries of many of 

 the smaller birds, some conjecturing it to do so for the purpose 

 of attracting them. On the continent it places its nest, Avhicli 

 is very large, in the fork of a branch at a considerable height 

 from the ground, forming it of moss and stems of dry grass, and 

 lining it with wool and hair. The eggs are from five to eight, 

 greyish-wdiite, marked toward the larger end with spots of 

 reddish-brown and greyish-purple ; their length an inch and 

 two-twelfths, and their greatest diameter ten-twelfths. They 

 defend their nest against crows and hawks with admirable 



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