THE SHRIKE, OR BUTCHER BIRD. 95 



habits in a state of confinement whatever the food may be 

 that is presented to them. 



" This habit of the shrike of seizing and impaling grass- 

 hoppers and other insects on thorns, has given rise to an 

 opinion, that he places these carcasses there by way of baits, 

 to allure small birds to them, while he himself lies in ambush 

 to surprise and destroy them. In this, however, they appear 

 to allow him a greater portion of reason and contrivance 

 than he seems entitled to, or than other circumstances will 

 altogether warrant ; for we find that he not only serves grass- 

 hoppers in this manner, but even small birds themselves, as 

 those have assured me who have kept them in cages in this 

 country, and amused themselves with their manoeuvres. If 

 so, we might as well suppose the farmer to be inviting crows 

 to his corn when he hangs up their carcasses around it, as 

 the butcher bird to be decoying small birds by a display of 

 the dead bodies of their comrades !" 



Wilson also says in speaking of this bird generally 



" The character of the butcher bird is entitled to no com- 

 mon degree of respect. His activity is visible in all his mo- 

 tions ; his courage and intrepidity beyond every other bird 

 of his size (one of his own tribe only excepted, L. tyrannus, 

 or king-bird ;) and in affection for his young, he is surpassed 

 by no other. He associates with them in the latter part of 

 summer, the whole family hunting in company. He attacks 

 the largest hawk or eagle in their defence, with a resolution 

 truly astonishing : so that all of them respect them, and on 

 every occasion decline the contest. 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 hedgerows, orchards and 

 meadows, and disappears again early in April." 



It loves best, and is most usually found to frequent the 

 wild, rocky and somewhat sterile commons of waste land, 

 which are the favorite localities of its especial prey, different 

 varieties of the lizard, grasshopper, and smaller finches. It 



