516 HISTORY OF THE 



Iris dark brown; bill horn color, dark at tips (of one specimen 

 blackish), with base of under mandible bluish white; legs, feet 

 and claws black. 



These birds, noted for their cruelty and rapacity, frequent the 

 edges of woodlands, orchards and hedges, where they are a 

 terror to the smaller birds, occasionally giving chase, but as a 

 rule watch silently from a perch, and pounce with unerring cer- 

 tainty upon their unsuspecting prey. In the warmer months 

 they feed largely upon beetles and grasshoppers, but with us, 

 upon birds and mice. They not only kill to sustain life, but for 

 pure "cussedness;" for, after satisfying their hunger, they take 

 delight in impaling their victims on thorns, sharp-pointed twigs, 

 etc., and sometimes draw and push them under splinters on 

 fence rails. It also affords them the greatest pleasure to tease 

 and frighten the birds, and in order to draw them near, occa- 

 sionally rnirnic one in distress. They boldly enter the door- 

 yards, and have been known to attack cage birds, not only when 

 hanging upon the outside of houses, but within. In the cities 

 they are beginning to turn their attention to the English Spar- 

 row, as they are much easier to capture than our native birds. 

 In their flights they are not regular, but usually keep near the 

 ground, and sweep through the air in an undulating, but strong 

 and easy manner. Their ordinary notes are harsh and squeaky. 

 Mr. Nelson, in his "Report upon Natural History Collections 

 in Alaska," gives the following description of their song: 



"While at the Yukon mouth the last of May, 1879, I had the 

 good fortune to observe this bird several times, and also to hear 

 its song. In May, 1879, while the ground was still largely 

 covered with snow, I was passing through a thicket where the 

 winter's drifts still lay deep enough to half bury the bushes, 

 when suddenly a low, soft, musical whistle, consisting of half a 

 dozen liquid trills, ending in two or three strange grating notes, 

 fell upon my ear. After a slight pause this was repeated, and 

 with some difficulty, a moment later, I made out the indistinct 

 form of a bird close to the ground in a dense bush, about twenty 

 yards in advance, where it had evidently concealed itself on my 

 approach. I hastily fired into the bush to secure, as I sup- 



