184 NOTES BY THE WAY. 



empt from the dangers that beset most of our birds ; 

 its nest is all but impervious to the rain, and the squir 

 rel or the jay or the crow cannot rob it without great 

 difficulty. It is a pocket which it would not be 

 prudent for either jay or squirrel to attempt to ex- 

 plore, when the owner, with his dagger-like beak, 

 was about ; and the crow cannot alight upon the 

 slender, swaying branch from which it is usually 

 pendent. Hence the orioles are doubtless greatly on 

 the increase. 



There has been an unusual number of shrikes the 

 past fall and winter ; like the hawks, they follow hi 

 the wake of the little birds and prey upon them. Some 

 seasons pass and I never see a shrike. This year I 

 have seen at least a dozen while passing along the 

 road. One day I saw one carrying its prey in its 

 feet a performance which I supposed it incapable 

 of, as it is not equipped for this business like a rapa- 

 cious bird, but has feet like a robin. One. wintry 

 evening, near sunset, I saw one alight on the top of 

 a tree by the road-side, with some small object in its 

 beak. I paused to observe it- Presently it flew 

 iown into a scrubby old -apple-tree, and attempted to 

 kmpale the object upon a thorn or twig. It was oc- 

 cupied in this way some moments, no twig or knob 

 proving quite satisfactory. A little screech-owl was 

 evidently watching the proceedings from his door- 

 vay, in the trunk of a decayed apple-tree ten or a 

 dozen rods distant. Twilight was just falling, and 

 the owl had come up from his snug retreat in the 



