SHRIKES. 121 



have rendered a more important service to the 

 falconer, than the capture of small birds, even the 

 capture of the higher kinds of Falcons themselves. 

 Sir John Sebright informs us that the Peregrine 

 Falcon is taken by placing in a favourable situa- 

 tion a small bow-net, so arranged as to be drawn 

 over quickly by a long string that is attached to 

 it. A pigeon of a light colour is tied on the 

 ground as a bait, and the falconer is concealed, at 

 a convenient distance, in a hut made of turf, to 

 which the string reaches, The Lanius excubitor, 

 that is, the Warder Butcher-bird,* from the look- 

 out that he keeps for the Falcon, is tied on the 

 ground near the hut ; and two pieces of turf are 

 so set up as to serve him, as well for a place of 

 shelter from the weather, as of retreat from the 

 Falcon. The falconer employs himself in some 

 sedentary occupation, relying upon the vigilance 

 of the Butcher-bird to warn him of the approach 

 of a Hawk. This he never fails to do, by scream- 

 ing loudly when he perceives his enemy at a dis- 

 tance, and" by running under the turf when the 

 Hawk draws near. The falconer is thus prepared 

 to pull the net, the moment that the Falcon has 

 pounced upon the pigeon. f 



The Grey Shrike delights more in parks and 

 cultivated fields, where hedge-rows and clumps of 

 trees abound, than in deep forests, or a very open 

 country. The small birds and quadrupeds, or 

 large insects on which it feeds, are taken by open 

 violence, deprived of life, and then impaled upon 

 some thorn or sharp twig, to be more readily de- 

 voured. This habit of hanging up his meat, 



* Lanius (Lat.\ a butcher ; excubitor, a watchman, 

 t Observations upon Hawking. 



