GREAT AMERICAN SHRIKE. 105 



be but a very insignificant and tasteless bait for our winter birds, which 

 are chiefly those of the Finch kind, that feed almost exclusively on 

 hard seeds and gravel ; and among whom five hundred grasshoppers 

 might be stuck up on trees and bushes, and remain there untouched by 

 any of them for ever. Besides, where is his necessity of having recourse 

 to such refined stratagems, when he can at any time seize upon small 

 birds by mere force of flight ? I have seen him, in an open field, dart 

 after one of our small sparrows, with the rapidity of an arrow, and kill 

 it almost instantly. Mr. William Bartram long ago informed me, that 

 one of these Shrikes had the temerity to pursue a Snow-bird {^F. Hud- 

 sonia), into an open cage, which stood in the garden ; and before they 

 could arrive to its assistance, had already strangled and scalped it, 

 though he lost his liberty by the exploit. In short I am of opinion, 

 that his resolution and activity are amply sufficient to enable him to 

 procure these small bii"ds whenever he wants them, which I believe is 

 never but when hard pressed by necessity, and a deficiency of his 

 favorite insects ; and that the Crow or the Blue Jay may, with the same 

 probability, be supposed to be laying baits for mice and flying squirrels, 

 when they are hoarding their Indian corn, as he for birds while thus 

 disposing of the exuberance of his favorite food. Both the former and 

 the latter retain the same habits in a state of confinement ; the one 

 filling every seam and chink of his cage with grain, crumbs of bread, 

 &c., and the other sticking up, not only insects, but flesh, and the bodies 

 of such birds as are thrown in to him, on nails or sharpened sticks, 

 fixed up for the purpose. Nor, say others, is this practice of the Shrike 

 difiicult to be accounted for. Nature has given to this bird a strong, 

 sharp, and powerful beak, a broad head, and great strength in the mus- 

 cles of his neck ; but his legs, feet and claws, are by no means propor- 

 tionably strong ; and are unequal to the task of grasping and tearing 

 his prey, like those of the Owl and Falcon kind. He therefore wisely 

 avails himself of the powers of the former, both in strangling his prey, 

 and in tearing it to pieces while feeding. 



The character of the Butcher-bird is entitled to no common degree 

 of respect. His activity is visible in all his motions ; his courage and 

 intrepidity beyond every other other bird of his size (one only 

 excepted, the King-bird, L. tyrannus, Linn.), and in afiection for his 

 young he is surpassed by no other. He associates with them in the 

 latter part of summer, the whole family hunting in company. He 

 attacks the largest Hawk, or Eagle, in their defence, with a resolution 

 truly astonishing ; so that all of them respect him ; and on every 

 occasion decline the contest. As the snows of winter approach, he 

 descends from the mountainous forests, and from the regions of the 

 north, to the more cultivated parts of the country, hovering about our 



