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itself, or even fed upon flesh. I have hung up 

 dead young birds and even parts of them, 

 near their nests, but never found that they 

 were touched by the Shrike. Yet it appears 

 that it must be a butcher too, and that the 

 name " fantiw," bestowed on it by Gcsner 

 two hundred and fifty years ago, was not 

 lightly given. My neighbour's gamekeeper 

 kills it as a bird of prey, and tells me he has 

 known it draw the weak young pheasants 

 through the bars of the breeding-coops ; and I 

 others have assured me that they have killed 

 them when banqueting on the carcase of 

 some little bird they hod captured. All ! 

 small birds have an antipathy to the Shrike, \ 

 betray anger, and utter the moan of danger, 

 when it approaches their nests. I have often j 

 heard this signal of distress, and, cautiously 

 approaching to learn the cause, have fre- 

 quently found that this Butcher-bird occa- 

 sioned it. They will mob, attack, and drive 

 it away, as they do the Owl, as if fully ac- 

 quainted witli its plundering propensities. 

 ]<inn;rus attached to it the trivial name 

 " exculritar" a sentinel ; a very apposite 

 appellation, as this bird seldom conceals 

 itself in a bush, but sits perched upon some 

 upper spray, or in an ojxjn situation, heedful 

 of danger, or watching its prey." This spe- 

 cies of the Shrike tribe feeds upon mice, 

 shrews, small birds, frogs, lizards, and large 

 insects. The nest is generally built on trees, 

 and is framed of grass-stalks, roots, and moss, 

 with a lining of down or wool. The eggs, 

 from five to seven, are grayish white, siwtted 

 on the larger end with light brown and ash. 

 \ViU.ni, speaking of the American Shrike | 

 {Litmus scptentrionalis), a species closely j 

 allied to the L. excubitor, says, " The cha- 

 racter of the Butcher-bird is entitled to 

 no common degree of respect. His ac- I 

 tivity is visible in all his motions ; his 

 courage and intrepidity beyond every other j 

 bird of Ids size (one of his own tribe only ( 

 excepted, L. tyrannta, or King-bird/; and ' 

 in affection for his young, he is surpassed 

 by no other. He associates with them in the 

 latter part of summer, the whole family 

 hunting in company. He attacks the largest ! 

 hawk or eagle in their defence, with a reso- , 

 lution truly astonishing ; so that all of them 

 respect him, and, on every occasion, decline j 

 the contest. As the snows of winter ap- 

 proacli, he descends from the mountainous ' 

 forests, and from the regions of the north, to 

 I the more cultivated purta of the country, 

 | hovering about our hedgerows, orchards, and 

 meadows, and disappears again early in 

 1 April." 



There are numerous exotic species with I 

 arcuated beaks, the points of which diminish | 

 by degrees. Other Shrikes have the superior 

 mandible straight, and abruptly hooked at 

 the tip. Others again, with a straight and 

 slender bill, are remarkable for their crests 1 

 of vertical feathers. Some species have the i 

 beak conical and rounded, without any ridge, 

 somewhat arched towards the tip, with a ! 

 very fine point, slightly emarginated on each 

 side. Their feet are very short, and the 

 wings in particular reach beyond the tail, 

 which renders their flight similar to that of 

 a Swallow ; but they have the courage of the 



Shrike family, and do not fear to attack even 

 the Crow. Numerous species inhabit the 

 coasts and islands of the Indian Ocean, 

 where they are continually seen on the wing, 

 flying swiftly in pursuit of insects. 



SHRIMP. (Cranoon vulgaris.) A small 

 crustaceous Decapod, allied to the Lobster 

 andCrawfish, which frequents shallow waters 

 along the sea-coast. It does itot exceed two 

 inches in length, and is of a pale glaucous 

 green colour, dotted with grey. In shape it 

 resembles the larger Crustacea just mentioned, 

 but it is more elongated in proportion, and 

 is destitute of the large anterior claws ; and 

 it is distinguished from the Prawn by the 

 absence of the long, anterior, serrated spine. 

 The Shrimp has ten feet ; the tail is as long 

 as the body, and terminated at the extremity 

 with scale-like appendages, which unfold 

 somewhat in the manner of a fan. During 

 life the body is semi-transparent, and so 

 much resembles sea-water that the animal is 

 distinguished with difficulty. Its ordinary 

 motion consists of leaps. It is abundant in 

 sandy places on the coast ; and besides fur- 

 nishing nutriment to great numbers of fishes, 

 aquatic birds, &c., it is in great request for 

 the table. 



Shrimp-catching, or Shrimping, as it is 

 termed, affords abundant employment on 

 the flat sandy parts of our coast to boys and 

 women, who wade up to their knees, pushing 

 a sort of dredge-net at the end of a long pole 

 before them ; but a more wholesale way of 

 collecting them is by means of sweep-nets, 

 dragged over the fishing ground by men in 

 boats. 



SIALID^E. The name given to a small 

 group of Ncuropterous insects, having very 

 large anterior wings. They frequent the 

 neighbourhood of water, and pass their larva 

 state in that element. The ordinary species 

 (Sialis In tin-in t is of a dull brown colour, and 

 is a well-known bait with the angler, being 

 produced in the spring months in great 

 quantities, and may be found upon walls or 

 palings near the water. The female attaches 

 her numerous eggs, with the greatest regu- 

 larity, to rushes or other aquatic plants. 

 The larva swims well by the assistance of 

 several pairs of articulated setose filaments 

 attached at the sides of the abdominal seg- 

 ments. When full grown, this larva quits 

 the water, and burrows into the adjoining 

 bank, in which it forms a cell, wherein it is 

 transformed into an inactive pupa, with the 

 limbs laid along the breast. The insect as- 

 sumes its perfect form in its cell. 



SIAMANG. (Ilyldbates syndactylus.) The 

 Siamang is a quadrumanous animal, inferior 

 to the Chimpanzee and Orang-Outang both 

 in structure and intelligence ; and belongs 

 to that division of Apes called Gibbons. 

 These animals have long, thick, glossy black 

 hair over the whole body, but particularly 

 on the shoulders, back, and limbs : they are 

 distinguished by the possession of small ru- 

 dimentary callosities ; and they derive their 

 specific appellation of syiulacti/lua from hav- 

 ing the second and third toes of the hind 

 foot united by a narrow membrane the whole 



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