GREAT AMERICAN SHRIKE. 149 



supposed to be laying baits for mice and flying squirrels, when 

 they are hoarding their Indian corn, as he for birds while thus 

 disposing of the exuberance of his favourite food. Both the for- 

 mer and the latter retain the same habits in a state of confine- 

 ment; the one filling every seam and chink of his cage with 

 grain, crumbs of bread, &c. and the other sticking up, not only 

 insects, but flesh, and the bodies of such birds as are thrown in 

 to him, on nails or sharpened sticks, fixed up for the purpose. 

 Nor, say others, is this practice of the Shrike difficult to be ac- 

 counted for. Nature has given to this bird a strong, sharp, and 

 powerful beak, a broad head, and great strength in the muscles 

 of his neck; but his legs, feet and claws, are by no means pro- 

 portionably strong; and are unequal to the task of grasping and 

 tearing his prey, like those of the Owl and Falcon kind. He 

 therefore wisely avails himself of the powers of the former, both 

 in strangling his prey, and in tearing it to pieces while feeding. 



The character of the Butcher-bird is entitled to no common 

 degree of respect. His activity is visible in all his motions; 

 his courage and intrepidity beyond every other bird of his size 

 (one only excepted, the King-bird, L. tyrannus, Linn.) and 

 in affection for his young he is surpassed by no other. He asso- 

 ciates with them in the latter part of summer, the whole fam- 

 ily hunting in company. He attacks the largest Hawk, or Ea- 

 gle, in their defence, with a resolution truly astonishing; so that 

 all of them respect him; and on every occasion decline the con- 

 test. As the snows of winter approach, he descends from the 

 mountainous forests, and from the regions of the north, to the 

 more cultivated parts of the country, hovering about our hedge- 

 rows, orchards and meadows, and disappears again early in 

 April. 



The Great American Shrike is ten inches in length, and thir- 

 teen in extent; the upper part of the head, neck and back, is 

 pale cinereous; sides of the head nearly white, crossed with a 

 bar of black, that passes from the nostril through the eye to the 

 middle of the neck; the whole under parts, in some specimens, 

 are nearly white, and thickly marked with minute transverse 



