t>6 



L A N I U S. 



the mandibles, and very speedily liews open the skull 

 and devours the contents. 



In Britain this species occurs only as a straggler ; 

 but it is very common in many parts of the European 

 continent, and also of America. In the colder ones 

 it is a migrant retiring in the winter, because there is 

 no food for it ; but in places where the summer is hot 

 in proportion, and there are marshy grounds, and con- 

 sequently many of the larger insects, it is very plen- 

 tiful in the summer. In Russia, for instance, it occurs 

 in great numbers during the summer, but disappears 

 entirely before the severity of the winter sets in. 

 It is found all the year over in France, where, in sum- 

 mer it haunts the forests, and in winter it resides in 

 the valleys, and even approaches the precincts of 

 human habitations. It chooses either the branchings 

 or forkings of trees in thorny hedges as the situation 

 for its nest, the frame work of which is formed of 

 small twigs twisted and interwoven together with 

 fibrous roots and moss. The nest is so compactly 

 formed, that it is rendered almost impervious to the 

 weather, and it is lined with wool, down, or other soft 

 substance. The eggs vary from four to eight in num- 

 ber ; they do not seem to be uniform in their colour ; 

 for they have been described by different naturalists 

 as being variously marked. The parent birds of this 

 species manifest a strong affection for their young, and 

 exercise the most tender care in rearing and feeding 

 them. When hatched, the young are quite naked ; 

 but the sort, downy, and warm lining of the nest 

 affords them the requisite comfort in this state. Such 

 is the friendly attachment of the old birds that they 

 associate with their offspring till the following spring. 

 During the autumnal and winter months the entire 

 family may be seen flitting from tree to tree in social 

 union, and never once commingling with other asso- 

 ciates. They are distinguished by their incessant 

 shrill cry of " troole, troole," which may be heard at a 

 great distance. They repeat this cry almost without 

 intermission when either perched on the tree top, or 

 flying in the air. Their flight is performed by jerks 

 and vibrations, always in an up and down direction ; 

 and when they perch upon a tree they always select 

 the extremity of the highest branch for the purpose 

 of enabling them to dart with more certainty and 

 effect upon their prey. The method to which they 

 resort in the killing of their larger prey is well illus- 

 trated in the following anecdote recorded by Edwards. 

 " Mr Bell, while on his travels through Russia, had 

 one of these birds given him, which he kept in a 

 room, having fixed up a sharpened stick for him in 

 the wall ; and on turning small birds loose in the room, 

 the butcher bird instantly caught them by the throat 

 in such a manner as soon to suffocate them, and then 

 stuck them on the stick, pulling them on with bill and 

 claws ; and so served as many as were turned loose, 

 one after another, on the same stick." 



The American bird which has been frequently 

 referred to this species, and which is similar to it in 

 most respects, but differs from it in others, appears to 

 have exactly the same habits ; and those habits are 

 so well described by Wilson, that we cannot resist 

 quoting a short passage. " I have seen him," says 

 the great ornithologist of North America, "in an 

 open field, dart after one of our small sparrows with 

 the rapidity of an arrow, and kill it almost instantly. 

 Mr. William Bartrarn long ago informed me, that one 

 of thesd shrikes had the temerity to pursue a snow 

 bird ( F. Hudsonica) into an open cage, which stood 



in the garden, and, before they could arrive to its 

 assistance, had already strangled and scalped it, 

 though he lost his liberty by the exploit. In short, 

 I am of opinion, that his resolution and activity are 

 amply sufficient to enable him to procure these small 

 birds whenever he wants them, which, I believe, is 

 never but when he is hard pressed by necessity, and 

 a deficiency of his favourite insects ; and that the 

 crow or the blue jay may, with the same probability, 

 be supposed to be laying baits for mice and flying 

 squirrels, when they are hoarding their Indian corn, 

 as he for birds, while thus disposing of the exuberance 

 of his favourite food. Both the former and the hitter 

 retain the same habits in a state of confinement ; the 

 one filling every seam and chink of his cage with 

 grain, crumbs of bread, &c., and the other sticking 

 up, not only insects, but flesh, and the bodies of such 

 birds as are thrown to him, on nails or sharpened 

 sticks fixed up for the purpose. Nor, say others, is 

 this practice of the shrike difficult to be accounted 

 for. Nature has given to this bird a strong, sharp, 

 and powerful beak, a broad head, and great strength 

 in the muscles of the neck ; but his legs, feet, and 

 claws are by no means proportionally strong ; and 

 are unequal to the task of grasping and tearing his 

 prey, like those of the owl and falcon kind. He, 

 therefore, wisely avails himself of the powers of the 

 former both in strangling his prey, and in tearing it 

 to pieces while feeding. 



" The character of the butcher bird is entitled to no 

 common degree of respect. His activity is visible 

 in all his motions ; his courage and intrepidity are 

 beyond every other bird of his size, (one of his own 

 tribe only excepted, L. tyrannus, or king-bird :) and 

 in affection for his young he is surpassed by no other. 



" He associates with them in the latter part of sum- 

 mer, the whole family hunting in company. He 

 attacks the largest hawk or eagle in their defence, 

 with a resolution truly astonishing ; so that all oi 

 them respect him, and on every occasion decline 

 the contest. As the snows of winter approach, he 

 descends from the mountainous forests, and from the 

 regions of the north, to the more cultivated parts oi 

 the country, hovering about our hedge-rows, orchards 

 and meadows, and disappears again early in April." 



The species of shrikes enumerated by different 

 writers are very many ; but many of them are not 

 easily distinguishable from the fly-catchers, to which 

 the shrikes generally are closely allied ; and we must 

 content ourselves with a selection. 



RED-BACKUD SHRIKE (L. collanis.) This species 

 which is rather a handsome one, appears in some 

 districts of Britain as a summer migrant. It comes 

 in May and departs in September, so that it is ir 

 the country only during the time that the larger sum- 

 mer beetles are in a state of maturity and on the 

 wing ; accordingly those beetles constitute the princi- 

 pal part of its food. This and some others of the 

 insectivorous birds which regularly visit Britain, con- 

 fine themselves to particular districts. The nightin- 

 gale, for instance, appears only in the south eastern 

 parts of the island, and in these it is less commor 

 and less melodious in its song, upon the cold reten 

 tive clays than upon the warm gravels. The shrikes 

 and fly-catchers, which are nearly allied to the shrikes 

 in their habits, are more partial to the central parts 

 of the country, ranging along where the prevailing 

 strata are oolites and stiff clays ; and they seem t< 

 prefer the winds -from the Atlantic to those from the 



