A WOODLAND TRAGEDY 



79 



boughs above the mouldering remains of his own 



slaughtered brother to await the insects that come 



to devour him. 



Then he darts 



upon them with 



something of 



the fly -catcher's 



eagerness, eating 



them up at once, 



or flying off with 



them alive to im- 

 pale in his store- 

 house. 



In No. 4 we 

 see the female 

 butcher-bird, on 

 her return from 

 a successful chase 

 after prey of 

 greater import- 

 ance. She has 

 caught a harvest- 

 mouse, the tini- 

 est and prettiest 

 of our Eng- 

 lish mammals, 

 and though with- 

 out a license 

 to hang game, 

 has threaded it 



through the neck on a branch of hawthorn, as 

 a preliminary to eating it. This enables her to 



N0> 4 ._THE BUTCHER-BIRD'S WIFE 



IMPALING A HARVEST-MOUSE. 



