118 SUBKIXGDOM VERTEBRATA. 



invaluable services, it helps itself somewhat freely to the 

 j- 193 smaller fruits, and hence 



is most unwisely perse- 

 cuted.* 



Laniidse. The 

 Shrike devours the larger 

 insects and smaller birds, 

 striking them senseless 

 by one blow upon the 

 head with its powerful 

 toothed beak. Its claws 



Cottvno dorealis, Shrike or Butcher-bird. *. being feeble, it impales 



its victims upon thorns, often a number at a time on the 

 same bush, that it may eat them at its leisure. While dis- 

 membering, it cunningly stands upon the inner side, so as to 

 transfix them more completely.! 



Tanagridae. The male Scarlet Tanager, in the third and 

 following years, has, with the exception of the jet-black 

 wings and tail, a fiery-red 

 plumage, in brilliant con- 

 trast with the green leaves 

 among which it flits. After 

 the August molting, and 

 during the first year, it is 

 not distinguishable, in its 

 greenish livery, from the 

 female, its gay summer 

 plumage being assumed on 

 re-entering our southern 

 borders in the spring. The 



birds Of this family feed Fyranga rvtra, Scarlet Tanager. 



mainly upon the insects in the topmost branches of trees, 



* Often alighting Bide by Bide, the outer one of the series will pluck a cherry 

 within reach and pass it to the second, and he to the third, and so on to the end, and 

 then hack again to where it started, repeating the manoeuvre several times, until, the 

 appetite whetted up, some one of the line will take a bite and spoil the fun. 



t In like manner it has been observed, when in confinement, to weave the body 

 of a mouse between the wires of the cage, that it might bear a heavier pull while being 

 torn in pieces. 



