A WOODLAND TRAGEDY 77 



the nature of these food-stores, where the butcher- 

 bird lays by meat for himself, his mate, and his 

 unfledged young. The larder is always situated 

 in the neighbourhood of the nest, and the male 

 bird hunts for flies, bees, and other insects, while 

 the female sits on the eggs hard by. He eats a 

 few at once, to allay his hunger, spitting them 

 first as a means of holding them ; but the greater 

 number he preserves alive upon the cruel thorns 

 for the use of his mate and his callow nestlings. 

 " Les peres de famille," said Talleyrand, " sont cap- 

 ables de tout." And we may well exclaim, " Oh, 

 parental affection, what crimes are perpetrated in 

 thy name ! " 



The particular portion of the larder which 

 Mr. Enock has selected for representation con- 

 tains a bumble-bee, two large flies, and a nestling 

 hedge-sparrow, stolen from its mother ; for the 

 butcher-bird does not wholly confine himself to 

 a diet of insects ; he is cannibal enough to catch 

 and eat other birds, not to mention mice and such 

 small mammals. So fierce and savage is he when 

 on the hunt after provender, that he will even 

 spear and impale larger birds than himself, such 

 as blackbirds and thrushes. Not content with 

 hanging them on the thorns alive, he will fasten 

 down their legs and wings by an ingenious cross 

 arrangement of twigs and branches, so as to pre- 

 vent them from escaping ; for he does not so much 

 desire to kill his prey, as to keep it alive till he 

 is ready to eat it or to distribute it to his family. 

 He knows that dead birds soon decay ; and he 



