600 BRITISH BIRDS. 
enough to hold it, and he sticks it on a thorn to devour it at his leisure, a 
proceeding which one would think would require great strength. It is 
evident that the strength of the Great Grey Shrike lies in his neck, and 
not in his legs. Like many birds of prey, he has his favourite feeding- 
place, some convenient spot in a hedgerow, probably chosen because the 
footing was good and the thorns sharp; and to this place he brings his 
prey during the day; and there an accumulation of the remains of his 
meals are discovered. Probably he has a dozen such places in various 
parts of the district in which he hunts.. I remember finding one of these 
so-called larders in a hedge on a road-side a few miles from Valconswaard, 
close to a gate. The thorns were very long and sharp ; and there were the 
dried-up remains of half-a-dozen mice, which had evidently been eaten 
except the feet, tail, and part of the skin. The discovery of these feeding- 
places has given rise to the myth that the Shrikes catch more than they 
can eat, and hang up the surplus in a larder for future use. In addition 
to mice it also eats small birds and insects, Naumann says that it will 
even attack birds almost as large as itself, and has been known to take 
Redwings. He writes :—“In summer it contents itself principally with 
insects (especially beetles and grasshoppers), small frogs, lizards, and 
blindworms. This is proved by an examination of the pellets which they 
cast up. In winter, on the contrary, these consist chiefly of the hair and 
bones of mice and the feathers of birds. He is very fond of newly fledged 
birds, and will plunder nests of their young ; but in the breeding-season he 
seldom attacks adult birds.” 
Although the Great Grey Shrike retires into the outskirts of the woods 
to breed, or selects some plantation where he is concealed from observa- 
tion, he is a bird of the open country, and is very fond of a conspicuous 
perch—a post, or the top of a small tree, wherever he can command a good 
view and descry not only the approach of danger but also the chance of a 
meal. In these positions he seems to balance himself, like the Magpie, 
with his tail, which is never still. He is not a very noisy bird ; but now and 
then his alarm-note may be heard, a sharp shake, shake. 'The song is 
something like that of a Starling. Naumann gives the call-note as ¢rwii. 
At Valeonswaard this Shrike is in great request by the faleoner. As the 
Hawks are passing over on migration the Shrike, pimioned near the 
faleconer’s net, attracts the attention of the birds of prey by its cries, which 
are the signal for the falconer to display a decoy-pigeon and thus lure the 
falcon into his net. 
When I was in Heligoland I was fortunate enough to see the Great 
Grey Shrike in the act of migration. Wewere breakfasting on the 2nd of 
October in a room looking out over the cliff towards the sea, and watched 
one of these birds arrive. On the wing its black and white plumage made 
it look like a small Magpie; but its flight was more like that of a Wood- 
