74 THE BIRDS ABOUT Us. 



akin to the shrikes, birds of a harsh name, or 

 butcher-birds, which is full of bloody meaning ; and 

 certainly the birds have nothing to commend them. 

 They are not pretty, they are not sociable, they have 

 no song-power worthy of attention, and they do go 

 about seeking whom, among weaker animals, they 

 may devour. 



Dr. Coues says of the two species found in the 

 United States, 



" Matching the bravest of the brave among birds of prey in deeds 

 of daring, and no less relentless than reckless, the shrike com- 

 pels that sort of deference, not unmixed with indignation, we are 

 accustomed to accord to creatures of seeming insignificance, whose 

 exploits demand much strength, great spirit, and insatiate love of 

 carnage. We cannot be indifferent to the marauder who takes his 

 own wherever he finds it, a feudal baron, who holds his own with 

 undisputed sway, an ogre whose victims are so many more than 

 he can eat that he actually keeps a private graveyard for the 

 balance." 



There are two of these shrikes : the " Loggerhead" 

 comes in April to the Middle States, and northward, 



and remains all 

 summer, al- 

 though not 

 equally distrib- 

 uted ; and in 

 November the 

 Great Northern 

 Shrike comes 



Shrike. down and stays 



until April, so 



we are never without one or the other of them. Did 

 they not kill small birds we would have no com- 



