SHRIKES. 177 



us in their attentions to their offspring than the old 

 Shrikes ; feeding them most carefully, long after they 

 have left the nest, an instinctive precaution, probably 

 more necessary in these tnan most other birds, as, for a 

 long time, in consequence of their being heavy and in- 

 active when young, they would be unable to pursue and 

 capture those winged insects which constitute their chief 

 food. If taken early, they may be easily tamed ; but 

 their pugnacious disposition, which does not appear in 

 their own family circle when wild, is often fatally con- 

 spicuous when they are confined in a cage. Mr. Mon- 

 tague, who kept several, found, that at about the end of 

 two months, violent battles ensued, to such a degree, 

 that he was obliged to separate the survivors, and chain 

 them in the manner Goldfinches are frequently confined, 

 when they became very docile, would come when called, 

 for the sake of a fly, of which they were remarkably 

 fond, though they would also eat mice or birds, spitting, 

 or fastening them, or pieces of raw flesh, on their cage, 

 in order to tear them ; disgorging the feathers, fur, and 

 bones, in pellets, like Hawks and Owls. 



Of two, thus kept for some time, the deaths were ra- 

 ther singular ; one choked itself by swallowing too large 

 a quantity of mouse-fur, which it could not disgorge, 

 the other, by eating to such a degree, that it actually 

 died of fat and repletion; expiring in Mr. Montague's 

 hand, in a fit, when in the act of feeding on insects. In 

 some countries, the young of the species of Shrike found 

 there, are trained for hawking or other purposes. 



In Russia, they are sometimes used for the former 

 amusement ; in Bengal, they are taught to fight, a cruel 

 diversion, one being held up opposite to another, in the 

 hand of a man, to whose finger the bird is fastened by a 

 string, sufficiently long to enable it to fly at and peck its 

 adversaries. By others, it is so well trained, that, at a 

 given signal, it will seize and carry the small golden 

 ornament usually worn on the head of young Indian 

 females, and convey it to its master. It will also, with 



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