JOURNAL OF MAINK ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 65 



noticed them frequently feeding each other. He also noticed them 

 on the trees picking the buds, sometimes with the head downward 

 and clinging to the under part of the limbs like the Chickadees and 

 Nuthatch. 



The Redpoll, in the arrangement of Audubon, belonged to the 

 Fri7igilla or Finch family, which family comprises eighteen genera 

 and sixty-three species pertaining to the United States. 



The third bird to which he alluded was the Great American 

 Shrike or Butcher Bird. This was a little larger than the common 

 Robin. The upper portions of its plumage are of a bright slate 

 color, wings edged with black, breast whitish, tail white and 

 black. It is well named the Butcher Bird, as it is inclined to kill 

 everything it can master, and when hard pushed for food will dash 

 through the window at the Canary that may be hanging up within. 

 Mr. L. O. Reynolds, who lives in the western part of the city, has 

 one which thus came into his house. 



The Butcher Bird is extremely savage in disposition, and will 

 kill a much larger quantity of food than it can eat. He strikes the 

 doves and larger birds upon which he preys on the head, and one 

 blow from his sharp, hooked beak is generally sufficient to produce 

 death. They have a practice of impaling the insects and smaller 

 birds upon which they prey on thorns, and it is not unusual to see 

 thorn bushes where they harbor stuck over with beetles, grass- 

 hoppers, caterpillars, and here and there a Sparrow or some smaller 

 bird. He had no doubt that the Butcher Bird breeds in the hilly 

 part of our state. They are extremely affectionate towards their 

 young, and in their defence will attack the largest Hawk, and even 

 the Eagle, with a pertinacity and vigor that soon induce them to 

 quit the contest. 



SECOND PAPER. 



Portland Advertiser, May IS, 1852. 



Mr. Beckett called notice to four species of birds new to this 

 quarter, which had made their appearance in our vicinity this spring. 

 They were the Cardinal Grosbeak, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Scarlet 

 Tanager, and Summer Tanager or Redbird. 



