THE BUTCHER-BIRD 21 
flicker, somewhat to my surprise, showed no sign 
of panic, or even of fear. He simply moved 
aside, as much as to say, “ Oh, stop that! Don’t 
bother me!” How the affair would have re- 
sulted, I cannot tell. To my regret, the shrike at 
that moment seemed to become aware of a man’s 
presence, and flew away, leaving the woodpecker 
to pursue his exploration of the apple-tree at his 
leisure. 
The shrike has a very curious habit of singing, 
or of trying to sing, in the disjointed manner of 
a catbird. I have many times heard him thus 
engaged, and can bear witness that some of his 
tones are really musical. Some people have sup- 
posed that at such times he is trying to decoy 
small birds, but to me the performance has al- 
ways seemed like music, or an attempt at music, 
rather than strategy. 
Southern readers may be presumed to be fa- 
miliar with another shrike, known as the logger- 
head. As I have seen him in Florida he is a very 
tame, unsuspicious creature, nesting in the shade- 
trees of towns. The “French mocking-bird,” a 
planter told me he was called. Mr. Chapman 
has seen one fly fifty yards to catch a grasshop- 
per which, to all appearance, he had sighted 
before quitting his perch. The power of flight 
is not the only point as to which birds have the 
advantage of human beings. 
