REDBACKED-8IIKIKE M> 



li/anK miee. wasps, butterflies, humble- bees, and .*>m? of his own bees! 

 The floor of the cage was strewn with insects, many scarcely hurt, 

 which crawled and fluttered about the cage " like a menagerie." II* 

 afterwards let the -hnkes go, but in the end had to shoot them, oth* i 

 wise they would have devastated his hives. 



Anoihnr obwrftor mentions a larder which contained " a young, 

 almost fully fledged, blue-tit, two young pheasants, which had not been 

 touched, and two more young pheasants which were half eaten ; also 

 the remains of several other young birds, which were too far gone to 

 be identified. In every case the birds were impaled on thorns run- 

 ning through their throats. Although I looked carefully, I could not 

 see any beetles or anything else but young birds. The birds were not 

 grouped together, but scattered about all round the tree." 1 In this 

 instance the shrike's nest, which was close at hand, contained eggH 

 only, and these had been incubated about a week ; so that the food 

 must have been required for the adult birds' own consumption, unless 

 indeed nestling shrikes prefer their game " high " ! Gould infers that 

 only the useless and rejected portions of food are strung up, but he 

 evidently looked upon the shrike's larder as a rarity, having only seen 

 it, as he himself says, " more than once " ; 2 therefore his evidence is 

 not conclusive. 



If food happens to be plentiful birds can afford to be dainty ; and 

 when it is a case of the strong against the weak, Nature's indifference 

 to suffering ensures high living for the strong. Sparrow-hawks, for 

 instance, feed their young during the first fortnight on the tiniest 

 shreds of flesh, torn from the breasts of their victims ; then carrying 

 away the carcase, either devour it themselves, or leave it to decay. 

 One pair I photographed had a regular larder on a large branch of an 

 oak-tree. There was a depression in this near the trunk, which in 

 time became a perfect charnel-house. Young birds ready plucked 

 would lie there for several days, some of which were untouched ; 

 while dainty morsels had been torn from others and given to the 



1 Britifh Bird*, vol. iv. p. 79. Bird* of Gnat Britain, vol. it 



