The Burgess Bird Book for Children 



he can eat, he sticks them on those thorns so that 

 later he may be sure of a good meal if it happens 

 there are no more to be caught when he is hungry. 

 Mice, Sparrows, and things too big for him to 

 swallow he sticks on the thorns so that he can pull 

 them to pieces easier. You see his feet and claws 

 are not big and stout enough to hold his victims 

 while he tears them to pieces with his hooked bill. 

 Sometimes, instead of sticking them on thorns, 

 he sticks them on the barbed wire of a fence and 

 sometimes he wedges them into the fork of two 

 branches." 



"Does he kill many birds ?" asked Peter. 



"Not many," replied Skimmer, "and most of 

 those he does kill are English Sparrows. The rest 

 of us have learned to keep out of his way. He 

 feeds mostly on insects, worms and caterpillars, 

 but he is very fond of mice and he catches a good 

 many. He is a good deal like Killy the Sparrow 

 Hawk in this respect. He has a cousin, the Great 

 Northern Shrike, who sometimes conies down in the 

 winter, and is very much like him. Hello ! Now 

 what's happened ?" 



A great commotion had broken out not far away 

 in the Old Orchard. Instantly Skimmer flew over 

 to see what it was all about and Peter followed. 

 He got there just in time to see Chatterer the 

 Red Squirrel dodging around the trunk of a tree, 

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