GREAT GREY SHRIKE. 151 



1831 ; but on search being made later in the season, neither 

 the birds nor any nest coukl be found, and by far the greater 

 number of British killed specimens have been obtained dur- 

 ing the winter season. 



The Grey Shrike feeds upon mice, shrews, small birds, 

 frogs, lizards, and large insects. After having killed its prey, 

 it fixes the body in a forked branch, or upon a sharp thorn, 

 the more readily to tear off small pieces from it. It is from 

 this habit of killing and hanging up their meat, which is ob- 

 served also in other Shrikes, that they have been generally 

 called Butcher Birds. Part of a letter from my friend Mr. 

 Henry Doubleday of Epping, in reference to the Grey 

 Shrike, is as follows : " An old bird of this species, taken 

 near Norwich in October 1835, lived in my possession twelve 

 months. It became very tame, and would readily take its 

 food from my hands. When a bird was given it, it invari- 

 ably broke the skull, and generally ate the head first. It 

 sometimes held the bird in its claws, and pulled it to pieces 

 in the manner of Hawks, — but seemed to prefer forcing part 

 of it through the wires, then pulling at it. It always hung 

 what it could not eat up on the sides of the cage. It would 

 often eat three small birds in a day. In the spring it was 

 very noisy, one of its notes a little resembling the cry of the 

 Kestrel." Mr. Selby, who has seen the Grey Shrike when 

 alive in its wild state, says, " its flight is interrupted, being 

 performed by jerks ; and when perched, the tail is kept in 

 constant motion." It has considerable power of voice, and 

 sufficient flexibility to enable it to imitate the notes of some 

 of the smaller birds .•; and this power it is said to exercise as a 

 decoy, the more easily to obtain food by deceiving small 

 birds. A writer in the Naturalist, says, " My first acquaint- 

 ance with the Butcher Bird was occasioned by hearing notes 

 not entirely familiar to me, though much resembling those of 

 the Stonechat. Following the sound, I soon discovered the 



