158 



SHRIKES. 



but in the crenirostral tribe the beak is, generally speaking, 

 of a very different character, though in some cases there Ls a 

 resemblance. In fact, the more we examine the arrange- 

 ments of nature in its orders of created beings, whether in 

 animals, birds, fishes, or insects, the more shall we be struck 

 with the beautiful connexion between the several classes into 

 which they are divided, and the utter impossibility of drawing 

 up rules which shall, without exceptions, accurately define 

 the marks of distinction. The works of God, in short, 

 whether in the animal, vegetable, or mineral world, may be 

 likened to 



The letting down a golden chain from high ; 



a chain of innumerable uninterrupted links, visible to us only 

 in the intermediate portions, and each attesting the wisdom 

 and power of its great Contriver. Thus, in the subject under 

 our immediate consideration, we find that from the gigantic 

 Condor or great Vulture of the Alps, to the small Humming 

 Bird, not exceeding in size a humble bee, there is a regular 

 scale; that one class and family slides imperceptibly into 

 another, till the most intelligent naturalist feels himself at a 

 loss to define accurately where the one ends and the other 

 begins. Of this we have an example in the link connecting 

 the Eagle, Hawk, and Owl tribes with the first of the nu- 

 merous families which remain for consideration. This link 

 consists of a small but interesting division, called the Shrikes. 



(Table VII., see page 

 12.) As many of 

 them live chiefly, if 

 not entirely, on bee- 

 tles, grasshoppers, 

 &c., they have been 

 considered as the 

 Falcons of the insect 

 world, pursuing and 

 destroy ing vast num- 

 bers of those count- 

 Shrike, less multitudes that 



