SHRIKES 95 



a barbed wire fence is often requisitioned nowadays to 

 fill the office. 



This bird is not liked by the aviculturist or canary- 

 keeper, as it is pugnacious, and has often been known to 

 kill canaries in their cages. 



As another illustration of the total ignorance of the 

 populace as regards bird-life, the late Dr. Exton, whose 

 name is well known to South African ornithologists, told 

 a good story at a meeting of the Johannesburg Field 

 Naturalists' Club just prior to the Boer War. He said 

 that while residing in Bloemfontein, he was one day 

 fetched by a friend to shoot some bird that had killed 

 one of his canaries, and on arrival at the friend's house 

 the latter pointed to a pert specimen of the Fiskal coolly 

 sitting on the railing and said, " Don't shoot him he is 

 so tame, those are the brutes," and pointed to a couple 

 of harmless Bulbuls which were hopping about the 

 branches of a tree. 



The Fiskal Shrike builds rather a neat, cup-shaped 

 nest of weeds, grass, twine, &c., lined with feathers, and 

 lays usually three eggs of a pale greeny tint, marked with 

 pale brown spots and blotches of purplish-brown on the 

 thick ends. 



It is commonly known as the "Jack-hanger" and 

 "Butcher-bird" in the Cape, the " Jacky-hangman " in 

 Natal, and the "Lachsman " in the Transvaal. 



The Bed-backed Shrike (L. collurio) is a migrant 

 from Europe, and does not breed out here. It can easily 

 be recognised from the other Shrikes by its chestnut- 

 coloured back and pinkish underparts. 



The Brubru Shrike (Nilaus brubru) is of a glossy black 

 and white with a distinct frontal band across the fore- 



