On the Pied Shrike.



69



THE PIED SHRIKE.


By the Rev. C. D. Farrar.


The restlessness which drove Elizabethan men Westward

Ho ! sets me East itching to cross the borders of the avian world

in this latter day, there to seek for new creatures, and to see new

things, to experience new dangers, excitements, privations.


The land I loved was the land I saw

Just dropping below the sky;


And when I was there, it was good no more,


So forward again trudged I.


When, therefore, one morning in the early Summer of

the present year I received a letter from Mr. Hamlyn, offering

me a pair of Pied Shrikes from Australia, I fell an easy prey to

his too persuasive pen. My good nature is such that, as a quaint

miner friend once said to me : “ If it was only two cocks ye see

fightin’ on the road, yer heart’d take part with one o’ them ! ”


Briefly, I am a martyr to a sense of duty—and curiosity.

The old bait of knowledge is still effective. We cannot get rid

of Eden, our curiosity is rampant as ever. We all take a bite

out of the apple now and then ; some of us from the green side,

others from the rosy : but we all like a bite more or less, sooner

or later. It is a trick to be regretted, as knowledge really seems

to bring a deal of trouble in its train ; from the sticking on

of the fig-leaves, down to too close acquaintance with our

neighbours lives.


The birds arrived in due course, and quite took my fancy

with their quaint Quaker-like costume. The Pied Shrike may

be briefly described as a “ study in black and white.” The cock

is about eight inches long ; he has a bold black eye ; the head a

beautiful glossy black; chin and breast dusky white; wings

black with white shoulder patch, and a second small patch on

the top of the flights ; back and sides of the rump black. The

beak has a strong curved hook on the end, as I shall always

remember from the hearty way in which he laid hold of my

finger : I fairly screamed with agony. Have you ever run a fish

hook into your hand ? if you have, you will appreciate my

sufferings. The legs are black. The outer tail feathers are



