eer Se Ob a eae aia 
ON BOSTON COMMON. 13 
ing his beautifully bordered tail and screaming 
loudly. Whether these demonstrations were in- 
tended to express delight, or anger, or contempt, 
J] could not judge; but he seized the body, car- 
ried it back to its old place, drove it again upon 
the thorn, and proceeded to devour it more 
voraciously than ever, scattering the feathers 
about in a lively way as he tore it to pieces. 
The third man, who had never before seen such 
a thing, stepped up within reach of the bush, 
and eyed the performance at his leisure, the 
shrike not deigning to mind him in the least. 
A few mornings later the same bird gave me 
another and more amusing exhibition of his 
nonchalance. He was singing from the top of 
our one small larch-tree, and I had stopped 
near the bridge to look and listen, when a milk- 
man entered at the Commonwealth Avenue 
gate, both hands full of cans, and, without no- 
ticing the shrike, walked straight under the 
tree. Just then, however, he heard the notes 
overhead, and, looking up, saw the bird. As 
if not knowing what to make of the creature’s 
assurance, he stared at him for a moment, and 
then, putting down his load, he seized the trunk 
with both hands, and gave it a good shake. 
But the bird only took a fresh hold; and when 
the man let go, and stepped back to look up, 
there he sat, to all appearance as unconcerned 
