34 AN EAST COAST NATURALIST 



THE GREY SHRIKE 



That bold, fearless bird, the Great Grey Shrike 

 (Lanitis exciibitor), visits us in scanty numbers with 

 autumnal immigrants, who, if they manage to cross 

 the seas in anything like amity, speedily get to 

 cross purposes on arrival. Master Lanius invariably 

 arrives hungry, and it is not the fault of the bird- 

 catchers, whose decoy-birds often attract his attention 

 on his appearance, if he comes to grief in the meshes 

 of a clap-net. 



One was brought me by a countryman in November 

 1889, who had unwittingly taken it in a spring cage- 

 trap into which it had dashed after a Lark placed 

 in the closed compartment. This it managed to 

 secure somehow, devouring it at once. 



On 26th October 1900 a hungry Great Grey 

 Shrike, evidently but just arrived, alighted on a tree 

 in the heart of the town. Presently it flew at and 

 struck a Sparrow, with which it returned to its perch ; 

 the shrieking of the unfortunate finch attracting 

 quite an assemblage of onlookers, before whose eyes 

 it tore its victim to pieces, and made a hasty 

 meal of it, flying away unmolested a few minutes 

 after. 



