194 BILL OF THE SHRIKE. 



and the ones which connect it most obviously with 

 the predatory or omnivorous birds ; but the resem- 

 blances are much slighter than those which can be 

 traced between order and order in other parts of the 

 system. The larger beetles form the principal food 

 of the shrikes ; and as many of those in the larva; 

 state, and some of them when perfect, are destructive 

 to vegetation, shrikes are useful birds to the cultivator, 



Shrike. 



while, as they do not eat vegetables, they do him no 

 harm. The shrikes are, however, chiefly woodland 

 or hedge birds, and leave the open fields for the pas- 

 ture of rooks. They do not inhabit the very cold 

 countries, as their staple food is not so abundant in 

 these. Many of the beetles on which they feed have 

 the elytra or wing-cases very hard, almost proof 

 against the action of the bill, notwithstanding its 

 strength and its notches. In these cases, the birds 

 are understood to stirk their prey upon thorns, and 

 divide and eat it at their leisure by the strokes of the 

 bill. It is also said that in this way they bait the 

 hedges for the purpose of capturing the feebler insec- 

 tivorous birds; but though they do sometimes kill 

 birds by pinching their necks between the mandibles 

 as they do beetles, these and some other habits which 



