50 



HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



difficult of instruction, and capricious in their 

 obedience. It has been lately asserted, how- 

 ever, by one whose authority is respectable, 

 that the sparrow-hawk is the boldest and the 

 best of all others for the pleasure of the chase. 1 



CHAP. VI. 



THE BUTCHER-BIRD. 



BEFORE I conclude this short history of rapa- 

 cious birds that prey by day, I must take 

 leave to describe a tribe of smaller .birds, that 

 seem from their size rather to be classed with 

 the harmless order of the sparrow kind ; but 

 that from their crooked beak, courage, and 



appetites for slaughter, certainly deserve a 

 place here. 2 The lesser butcher-bird is not 

 much above the size of a lark ; that of the 

 smallest species is not so big as a sparrow ; 

 yet, diminutive as these little animals are, 

 they make themselves formidable to birds of 

 four times their dimensions. 



The greater butcher-bird is about as large 

 as a thrush ; its bill is black, an inch long 

 and hooked at the end. This mark, together 

 with its carnivorous appetites, ranks it among 

 the rapacious birds ; at the same time that its legs 

 and feet, which are slender, and its toes, form- 

 ed somewhat differently from the former, would 

 seem to make it the shade between such birds 

 as live wholly upon flesh, and such as live 

 chiefly upon insects and grain. 



Indeed, its habits seem entirely to corres- 



Caermarthenshire. In Holland they are of course nu- 

 merous, from the nature of the country, arid rare in 

 Switzerland. 



The Hen Harrier, though not very numerous, is 

 pretty generally found throughout Britain, frequenting 

 low marshy situations, or wide moors. The flight of the 

 hen-harrier is always low, but at the same time smooth 

 and buoyant. It is very destructive to game, which it 

 pounces upon the ground ; it also feeds upon small birds 

 and animals, lizards and frogs. It breeds on the open 

 wastes, and frequently in thick furze covers; the nest is 

 placed on the ground, and the eggs are four or five in 

 number, of a skim-milk white, round at each end, and 

 nearly as large as the marsh harrier's. The young males, 

 for the first year, are similar in appearance to the 

 females, after which they gradually assume the gray 

 plumage that distinguishes the adult. It is common in 

 France, Germany, and Holland, inhabiting the low and 

 flat districts; but in Switzerland, and all mountainous 

 countries, it is of rare occurrence. (For the American 

 Hen Harrier, see plate XVI. fig. 10.) 



The Ash coloured Harrier The British Fauna is 

 indebted to the researches of Montagu for the discovery 

 of this new species of falcon. The resemblance it bears 

 to the hen harrier was without doubt the cause of its 

 remaining so long unnoticed as a separate species, having, 

 in all probability, when previously met with, been con- 

 sidered only as a variety of that bird. 



The Ash-coloured harrier, is far from being numerous 

 in England. It skims along the surface of the ground 

 like the hen harrier, but with more rapid flight, and 

 more strikingly buoyant. Lives upon small birds^ liz- 

 ards, frogs, &c. Its nest is placed upon the ground, 

 amongst furze or low brushwood. The eggs are gen- 

 erally four, and of a pure white. According to Tem- 

 minck, it is found throughout Hungary, in Poland, Sil- 

 esia, and Austria. It is common also in Dalmatia and 

 the Illyrian provinces, but is of rare occurrence in Italy. 

 -Selby. 



1 The Secretary Falcon, (see plate XVI. fig. 3.) an 

 inhabitant of the south of Africa, is a singular bird, for 

 whose natural history we are chiefly indebted to the 

 labours of M. le Vaillant. Its body, when standing erect, 

 is not much unlike the crane ; but its head, bill, and 

 claws, are precisely those of the falcon. The general 

 colour of the plumage is a bluish-ash. On the back of 

 the head are several long dark-coloured feathers, hanging 

 down behind, and which it can erect at pleasure. This 

 crest has induced the Dutch at the Cape to give it the 

 name of the secretary, from the resemblance they fancy 

 it has to the pen of a writer, when in the time of leisure 



it is stuck behind the ear. The food to which this bird 

 is particularly attached consists of snakes and other rep- 

 tiles, for the destruction of which it is admirably fitted 

 by its organization. 



2 The tribe of birds here noticed under the name of 

 butcher-birds are otherwise called shrikes. Shrikes are 

 spread 'over the entire globe, and everywhere exhibit 

 similar dispositions, habits, and modes of existence. Of 

 small size, but armed with a strong and crooked beak, of 

 a fierce and courageous disposition, and of a sanguinary 

 appetite, they bear much affinity to the birds of prey. 

 Naturally intrepid, they defend themselves vigorously, 

 and do not hesitate to attack birds much stronger and 

 larger than themselves. The European shrikes can 

 combat with advantage, pies, crows, and even kestrels. 

 They attack and pursue these birds with great ferocity, 

 if they dare to approach their nests. It is even suffi- 

 cient if any of them should pass within reach. The 

 male and female shrikes unite, fly forth, attack them 

 with loud cries, and pursue them with such fury, that 

 they often take to flight without daring to return. Even 

 kites, buzzards, and ravens will not willingly attack the 

 shrike. They are habitually insectivorous, and also pur- 

 sue small birds. They will cast themselves on thrushes, 

 blackbirds, &c., when these last are taken in a snare. 

 When they have seized a bird they open the cranium, 

 devour the brain, deplume the body, and tear it piece- 

 meal. The prudence to foresee and provide for the 

 wants of the future, is another of their qualities. That 

 they may not fail of those insects which form their sub- 

 sistence, and which only make their appearance at a de- 

 terminate epoch, some shrikes form kinds of magazines, 

 not in the hollows of trees, nor in the earth, but in the 

 open air. They stick their superabundant prey on 

 thorns, where they may find it again in the hour of need. 



Falconers have taken the advantage ot the character 

 of these birds, and occasionally trained them to the 

 chase. Francis the First of France, according to the 

 account of Turner, was accustomed to hunt with a tame 

 shrike, which used to speak, and return upon the hand. 

 The Swedish hunters, availing themselves of the habit 

 of the gray shrike of uttering a peculiar sort of cry at the 

 approach of a hawk, make use of it to discover the birds 

 of prey which this kind of cry announces. 



Though we have said that the shrike genus is exten- 

 ded over the entire globe, we believe South America 

 must be excepted. The South American birds which 

 have been called shrikes belong to other divisions, and 

 it would appear that this genus does not pass beyond the 

 Floridas, Louisiana, and the north of Mexico. 



