i 5 8 



SHRIKES. 



The Shrike. 



scale; that one class and family slides imperceptibly into 

 another, till the most intelligent naturalist feels himself at a 

 loss to define accurately where the one ends and the other 

 begins. Of this we have an example in the link connecting 

 the Eagle, Hawk, and Owl tribes with the first of the nu- 

 merous families which remain for consideration. This link 

 consists of a small but interesting division, called the Shrikes. 



(Table VII, see page 12.) 

 As many of them live chiefly, 

 if not entirely, on beetles, 

 grasshoppers, &c, they have 

 been considered as the Fab 

 cons of the insect world, pur. 

 suing and destroying vast 

 numbers of those countless 

 multitudes that swarm in hot 

 climates ; and have also been named Butcher-birds, from a fierce- 

 ness of disposition, together with a singular habit of impaling 

 their victim on thorns or cleft branches, where they are left. 



In this savage character they resemble the birds of prey we 

 have just noticed. In the form of their beak, too, there is a 

 close resemblance, it being short, arched, and furnished with 

 a strong projecting tooth near the tip, which is acute, and 

 very analogous to the true Falcons. But they, at the same 

 time, differ so essentially in other points, that some modern 

 naturalists have removed them into a distinct class. Their 

 limbs, for example, are very different from the Eagle and Hawk 

 tribe, the toes being slender, and the claws comparatively weak. 

 But although slender, their pressure is nevertheless powerful, 

 and the bite they can inflict with their bill extremely severe, 

 and capable of drawing blood from a man's finger in an instant. 

 The uses of the separate qualities of the claws and bill are 

 seen from the mode in which they seize their prey ; if, for 

 instance, it is an insect, they pounce down, secure it with their 

 sharp notched bill, and then press it under their feet to eat it ; 

 and when coming down on a bird or a mouse which they have 

 pursued for some distance, they settle their feet on the head 



