ON BOSTON COMMON. 13 



ing his beautifully bordered tail and screaming 

 idly. Whether these demonstrations were in- 

 ^ tended to express delight, or anger, or contempt, 

 * I could not judge ; but he seized the body, car- 

 O 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- 

 y/j ticing the shrike, walked straight under the 

 t^ 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. 

 *fy 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 



