PLATE XLII—NORTHERN SHRIKE. BUTCHER-BIRD. 
Lantus borealis. 
Above light bluish-gray shading to still lighter on the rump; beneath 
white, crossed with dark, wavy lines ; sides of head hoary white, with 
a black stripe passing through and behind the eye; wings and tail black, 
the former with a white patch and some white tippings, the latter much 
rounded, and edged and broadly tipped with white; bill and feet dark. 
Length, to inches. 
The Shrike is usually seen here from November to April. Truly a bird of prey, though 
not classed as such by ornithologists. Besides insects, it captures small birds and even 
animals, which it devours. It has a curious habit, from which it derives its name, Butcher- 
bird, of impaling the creatures which it has seized upon thorns, as a butcher would hang 
up a Carcass. 
The observer who is fortunate enough to have witnessed the Shrike thus slaughtering 
its victim, has probably condemned the bird as a monster of needless cruelty. But in this 
149 
