THE BUTCHER BIRD. 



487 



sometimes happens that they fall to the ground 

 with the bird they have so fiercely fixed upon, 

 and the conibnt ends with the destruction of 

 the assailant as well as the defender. 



For this reason, the most redoubtable birds 

 of prey respect them ; while the kite, the buz- 

 zard, and the crow, seem rather to fear than 

 seek the engagement. Nothing in nature 

 better displays the respect paid to the claims 

 of courage, than to see this little bird, appa- 

 rently so contemptible, fly in company with 

 the lanner, the falcon, and all the tyrants of 

 the air, without fearing their power, or avoid- 

 ing their resentment. 



As for small birds, they are its usual food. 

 It seizes them by the throat, and strangles 

 them in an instant. When it has thus killed 

 the bird or insect, it is asserted by the best 

 authority, that it fixes them upon some neigh- 

 bouring thorn, and, when thus spitted, pulls 

 them to pieces with its bill. It is supposed, 

 that as nature has not given this bird str-ngth 

 sufficient to lear their prey to pieces with its 

 feet, as the hawks do, it is obliged to have re- 

 course to this extraordinary expedient. 



During summer, such of them as constantly 

 reside here, for the smaller red butcher-bird 

 migrates, remain aniong the mountainous parts 

 of the country : but in winter they descend into 

 the plains, and nearer human habitations. 

 The larger kind make their nests on the high- 

 est trees, while the lesser build in bushes in 

 the fields and hedge-rows. They both lay 

 about six eggs, of a white colour, but encir- 

 cled at the bigger end with a ring of brownish 

 red. The nest on the outside is composed of 

 white moss, interwoven with long grass ; 

 within it is well lined with wool, and is usual- 

 ly fixed among the forking branches of a tree. 

 The female feeds her young with caterpillars 

 and other insects while very young ; but soon 

 after accustoms them to flesh, which the male 

 procures with surprising industry. Their 



The great Butcher-bird of America makes use of a 

 curious stratagem to decoy and seize its prey. A gentle- 

 man accidentally observing that several grasshoppers were 

 stuck upon some sharp thorns, inquired of a person, who 

 lived close by, the cause of this appearance ; and was in- 

 formed, that they were placed there by this bird, which is 



nature also is very different from other birds 

 of prey it their parental care ; for, so far from 

 driving out their young from the nest to shift 

 for themselves, they keep them with care ; 

 and even when adult they do not forsake them, 

 but the whole brood live in one family together. 

 Each family lives npart, and is generally corn- 

 posed of the male, female, and five or six 

 young ones; these all maintain peace and 

 subordination among each other, and hunt in 

 concert. Upon the returning season of court- 

 ship, this union is at an end, the family parts 

 for ever, each to establish a little household of 

 its own. It is easy to distinguish these birds 

 at a distance, not only from their going in 

 companies, but also from their manner of fly- 

 ing, which is always up and down, seldom 

 direct or sideways. 



Of these birds there are three or four differ- 

 ent kinds ; but the greater ash-coloured but- 

 cher-bird is the least known among us. The 

 red-backed butcher-bird migrates in autumn, 

 and does not return till spring. The wood- 

 chat resembles the former, except in the colour 

 of the back, which is brown, and not red as in 

 the other. There is still another, less than 

 either of the former, found in the rn;irshes 

 near London. This too is a bird of prey, 

 although not much bigger than a titmouse ; 

 an evident proof that an animal's courage or 

 rapacity does not depend upon its size. Of 

 foreign birds of this kind there are several ; 

 but as we know little of their manner of Jiving, 

 we will not, instead of history, substitute mere 

 description. In fact, the colours of a bird, 

 which is all we know of them, would afford a 

 reader but small entertainment iu the enume- 

 ration. Nothing can be more easy than to fill 

 volumes with the different shades of a bird's 

 plumage ; but these accounts are written 

 with more pleasure than they are read ; and a 

 single glance of a good plate or a picture im- 

 prints a justeridea than a volume could convey." 



there called the nine-killer, from the supposition that nine 

 are always stuck up in succession. On further inquiry, 

 he was led to suppose, that this was an instinctive strata- 

 gem, adopted for the purpose of tempting the smaller 

 birds into a situation where he could easily dart out upon 

 them and seize them. 



