33 r 



LANIAD.E. 



LANIAD.E. 



338 



Lanita Excubitor, Linn., the Butcher-Bird, may be taken as an 

 example. 



Old Male. Head, nape, and back, fine bright ash ; a large black 

 band passing beneath the eyes and covering the orifices of the ears ; 

 lower part pure white ; wings short, black ; origin of the quills and 

 extremity of the secondaries pure white ; two external tail-feathers 

 white ; the third black towards the centre, the fourth terminated by a 

 great white space, and the fifth by a less extensive space; the two middle 

 ones entirely black; bill and feet deep black. Length 9 or 10 inches. 



The Young Male resembles the female. 



Female. Upper parts less bright ash; lower parts whitish, each 

 breast-feather terminated by a crescent of bright ash ; less white at 

 the extremity of the secondaries, and more black on the origin of the 

 tail-feathers. 



Head and Foot of Butcher-Bird (Laniia Excubitor). 



Varieties. 1. Nearly perfect white, only the black parts are lightly 

 shadowed out by deep ash. 



2. More or less variegated with white. (Temm.) 



This is the Cattrica palomlina and Averla Maggiore of the Italians; 

 the Pie-Grieche Grise and Pie-Grisatre of the French ; Torn-Skade of 

 the Danes ; Warfogel of the Swedes ; Klavert of the Norwegians ; the 

 Berg-Aelster, Grossere Neuntoder, and Gemeine Wxirger, of the Ger- 

 mans; Greater Butcher-Bird or Mattagess of Willughby; Mountain 

 Magpio, Murdering Pie, Great Gray Shrike, Shreek, and Shrike, of the 

 British ; and Cigydd Mawr of the Welsh. 



In England this species is only an occasional visitor, nor are 

 we aware of any instance of ito having bred here. "The Gray 

 Shrike," says Mr. Yarrell, " has been obtained in several southern and 

 western counties. In Surrey, Sussex, Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, Devon- 

 shire, Worcestershire, and Cheshire ; and I am informed by Mr. 

 Thompson of Belfast, that it has occurred in one or two instances in 

 the North of Ireland. A specimen shot near Belfast is in the collection 

 of Dr. J. D. Marshall. North of London, it has been killed in Suffolk, 

 Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Yorkshire, Cumberland, Northumberland, 

 and Durham. No Shrikes appear to have been seen either in the 

 islands of Orkney or Shetland ; but the Gray Shrike is included 

 among the birds of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Lapland, Russia, and 

 Germany. In Holland it is rare ; but it is rather a common bird in 

 France, and remains there throughout the year, frequenting woods in 

 summer and open plains in winter. It is an inhabitant also of Spain, 

 Portugal, and Italy." (' British Birds.') Prince C. L. Bonaparte notes 

 it as common near Rome in winter. ('Specchio Comparative.') 



"This Bird," writes Willughby, "in the north of England is 

 called Wierangle, a name, it seems, common to us with the 

 Germans, who (as Gesner witnesseth), about Strasburg, Frankfort, 

 and elsewhere, call it Werkangel or Warkangel, perchance (saith he) 

 as it were Wurchangel, which literally rendered signifies a ' suffocating 

 angel." In other parts of Germany it is called Neghen-Doer, that is, 

 Ninekiller (Enneactouos), because it kills nine birds before it ceases, 

 or every day nine. Our falconers call it the Mattagess, a name 

 borrowed from the Savoyards, which is by Aldrovandus interpreted a 

 Murthering Pie." Dr. Brookes writes the northern name differently, 

 " (filled in Yorkshire and Derbyshire the Were-Angef." The food of 

 this species, which haunts bushes, the skirts of woods and plantations, 

 consists of mice, field-mice, frogs, small birds, lizards, and beetles. 

 "Although," says Willughby, "it doth most commonly feed upon 

 insects, yet Joth it often set upon and kill not only small birds, as 

 finches, wrens, &c., but (which Turner affirms himself to have seen) 

 even thrushes themselves : whence it is wont by our falconers to be 

 reclaimed, and made for to fly small birds." 



Mr. Yarrell states that the Gray Shrike feeds upon mice, shrews, 

 small birds, frogs, lizards, and large insects. In the 'Portraits des 

 Oyseaux' (1557), where, by the way, it is called Falconello, the bird is 

 VAT. UI8T. D1V. VOL. III. 



represented upon a field-mouse, with the following quatrain beneath 

 its likeness : 



" Ccstc Pie est la moindre de corsage : 

 Au demeurant, elle vit de Sonrig, 

 Bats, et Mulcts, qui'sont par elle pris 

 Fanny les champs, gastans bled et fourragc." 



So that it seems to have been considered a xiseful bird in France. 

 It derives its name of Butcher-Bird from its habit of suspending its 

 prey, after it has deprived it of life, upon thorns, and so hanging it 

 up, as a butcher does his meat, upon its sylvan shambles. Mr. Yarrell 

 quotes part of a letter from Mr. Doubleday of Epping, who states 

 that an old bird of this species, taken near Norwich, in October, 1835, 

 lived in his possession twelve months. It became very tame, and 

 would readily take its food from its master's hands. When a bird 

 was given to it, it invariably broke the skull, and generally ate the 

 head first. It sometimes held the bird in its claws, and pulled it to 

 pieces in the manner of hawks ; but seemed to prefer forcing part of 

 it through the wires, then pulling at it. It always hung what it 

 could not eat up on the sides of the cage. It would often eat three 

 small birds in a day. In the spring it was very noisy, one of its 

 notes a little resembling the cry of the kestrel. 



In the 'Booke of Falconrie or Hawkinge' (London, 1611), we 

 find the Matagesse immediately following ' the Sparrowhawke ;' and 

 at the end of ' A generall division of hawks and birdes of prey, after 

 the opinion of one Francesco Sforzino Vyncentiuo, an Italian gentleman 

 falconer,' we have the following account ' of the Matagasse :' 



"Though the matagasse bee a hawke of none account or price, 

 neyther with us in any use ; yet neverthelesse, for that in my division 

 I made recitall of her name, according to the French author, from 

 whence I collected sundries of these points and documents apper- 

 taining to falconrie, I think it not beside my purpose briefly to 

 describe heere unto you, though I must needs confesse, that where 

 the hawke is of so slender value, the definition or rather description 

 of her nature and name, must be thought of no great regard;" and 

 then the Matagasse is described. 



" Her feeding," continues Turberville, the writer of ' The Booke,' 

 " is upon rattes, squirrells, and lisards, and sometime upon certaine 

 birds she doth use to prey, whome she doth intrappe and deceive by 

 flight, for this is her devise. She will stand at pearch upon some 

 tree or poste, and there make an exceeding lamentable crye and 

 exclamation, such as birdes are wonte to doe being wronged, or in 

 hazarde of mischiefe, and all to make other fowles believe and thinke 

 that she is very much distressed, and standes needefull of ayde, 

 whereupon the credulous sellie birdes do flocke together presently at 

 her call and voice, at what time if any happen to approach neare 

 her, she out of hand ceazeth on them, and devoureth them (ungrate- 

 full subtill fowle !) in requital of their simplicity and pains. These 

 hawkes are in no accompt with us, but poor simple fellows and 

 peasants sometimes do make them to the fiste, and being reclaimed 

 after their unskillful manner, do beare them hooded, as falconers doe 

 their other kinde of hawkes whom they make to greater purposes. 

 Heere I ende of this hawke, because I neither accompt her wortlle the 

 name of a hawke, in whom there resteth no valour or hardiness, ne 

 yet deserving to have any rJore written of her propertie and nature, 

 more than that she was in mine author specified as a member of my 

 division, and there reputed in the number of long-winged hawkes. For 

 truely it is not the property of any other hawke, by such devise and 

 cowardly will to come by their prey, but they love to winne it by 

 main force of winges at random, as the round-winged hawkes doe, or 

 by free stooping, as the hawkes of the tower doe most commonly 

 use, as th<> falcon, gerfalcon, sacre, merlyn, and such like, which doe 

 lie upon their wing, roving in the ayre, and ruffe the fowle, or kill it at 

 the encounter." 



With reference to the art which the Matagasse is here said to prac- 

 tise in order to entrap other birds, a device attributed to the Butcher- 

 Bird by other authors, the communication of a writer in ' The 

 Naturalist ' becomes interesting. He states that his first acquaintance 

 with this bird was occasioned by bearing notes not entirely familiar 

 to him, though they much resembled those of the Stonechat. Follow- 

 ing the sound, he soon discovered the utterer ; and, while listening, 

 to his surprise, the original notes were discarded, and others adopted 

 of a softer and more melodious character, never however prolonged to 

 anything like a continuous song. 



Sir John Sebright, in his interesting ' Observations upon Hawking,' 

 when treating of Passage Hawks, states that the Slight Falcons (Falco 

 yentilis) which are brought to this country in the spring, to be used in 

 flying herons, are caught in the preceding autumn and winter on the 

 heaths near Falconsweard, as they pass towards the south and east. 

 These hawks are taken, he tells us, by placing in a favourable situation 

 a small bow net, so arranged as to be drawn over quickly by a long 

 string that is attached to it. A pigeon of a light colour is tied on the 

 ground as a bait ; and the falconer is concealed, at a convenient dis- 

 tance, in a hut made of turf, to which the string reaches. A Butcher- 

 Bird (lanius Ejccubitor), " that is, the Warder Butcher-Bird, from the 

 look-out that he keeps for the falcon, is tied on the ground near the 

 hut, and two pieces of turf are so set up a? to serve him, as well for a 

 place of shelter from the weather, as of retreat from the falcon. The 



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