OR BUTCHER-BIRD. 189 



approaching to learn the cause, have frequently 

 found that this butcher-bird occasioned it. They 

 will mob, attack, and drive it away, as they do the 

 owl, as if fully acquainted with its plundering 

 propensities. Linna?us attached to it the trivial 

 epithet " excubitor," 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 open situation, heedful of danger, or watching for 

 its prey. This shrike must be most mischievously 

 inclined, if not a predatory bird. May 23rd : A 

 pair of robins have young ones in a bank near my 

 dwelling ; the anxiety and vociferation of the poor 

 things have three times this day called my attention 

 to the cause of their distress, and each time have 

 I seen this bird watching near the place, or stealing 

 away upon my approach, and then the tumult of 

 the parents subsided ; but had they not experienced 

 injury, or been aware that it was meditated, all this 

 terror and outcry would not have been excited. 



Many birds are arranged in our British orni- 

 thology not known as permanent inhabitants, but 

 which have occasionally visited our shores during 

 inclement seasons, or been driven from their general 

 stations by tempestuous weather. An event like 

 this, the violent gale of All-hallows eve, in 1824, 

 brought to us the stormy petrel (procellaria pela- 

 cjicd) : a bird that resides far in the depths of the 

 ocean, does not approach our shores, it is believed, 

 except for the purposes of incubation, and we know 



