12 ON BoaTaW’ COMMON. 
twitter by the half hour in the very coldest 
weather. But further discussion concerning 
the bird’s identity was soon rendered needless ; 
for, while we were talking, along came a spar- 
row, and dropped carelessly into a hawthorn 
bush, right under the shrike’s perch. The lat- 
ter was all attention instantly, and, after wait- 
ing till the sparrow had moved a little out of 
the thick of the branches, down he pounced. 
He missed his aim, or the sparrow was too 
quick for him, and although he made a second 
swoop, and followed that by a hot chase, he 
speedily came back without his prey. This lit- 
tle exertion, however, seemed to have provoked 
his appetite ; for, instead of resuming his cof- 
fee-tree perch, he went into the hawthorn, and 
began to feed upon the carcass of a bird which, 
it seemed, he had previously laid up in store. 
He was soon frightened off for a few moments 
by the approach of a third man, and the police- 
man improved the opportunity to visit the bush 
and bring away his breakfast. When the fel- 
low returned and found his table empty, he did 
not manifest the slightest disappointment (the 
shrike never does; he is a fatalist, I think) ; 
but in order to see what he would do, the po- 
liceman tossed the body to him. It lodged on 
one of the outer twigs, and immediately the 
shrike came for it; at the same time spread- 
