GREAT GREY SHRIKE. 201 



in a clap-net near London, in the act of striking at the call- 

 bird, throve well in confinement, but was readily parted with 

 by its possessor, who found that its note, once heard, stopped 

 the song of all his other birds. It is said to have con- 

 siderable power of voice, and sufficient flexibility to enable it 

 to imitate the notes of some of the smaller birds, and thus 

 attract them within its reach. Whether the last assertion 

 be true or not, there is no doubt that the Shrike itself is 

 ingeniously made use of by the Dutch falconers during 

 autumn and winter when catching Passage Hawks. The 

 whole manner of proceeding cannot be here described in 

 detail,* for the apparatus used is complicated, but perhaps 

 the following will suffice. The Shrike is tethered near a 

 hut, wherein, half-buried in the ground, the falconer lies 

 hidden, watching through a small hole his sentinel, which 

 by its actions not only gives him notice of the approach of a 

 Bird-of-prey, but also indicates to some extent of what kind 

 the stranger is : thus, according to Prof. Schlegel, whose 

 magnificent treatise on Falconry has been before mentioned 

 in these pages, the Shrike is but slightly troubled at a 

 passing Kite, Buzzard or Eagle, but beats itself on its perch 

 with loud screams at the sight of a Harrier, while on the 

 appearance of a Falcon or Sparrow-Hawk the vedette drops 

 with cries of distress into a retreat which has been con- 

 siderately provided for it.f On this the falconer, by pulling 

 long strings, displays first one and then a second tethered 

 Pigeon, previously concealed under sods of turf, and, the 

 instant the Hawk clutches the last Pigeon, draws a bow-net 

 over both, thus securing his prize. 



Selby, writing from personal observation, states that the 



* There is a good account of it by Hoy (Mag. Nat. Hist. iv. p. 342). 



t " The signs of alarm," adds the same excellent authority in a note (Traite 

 de la Fauconuerie, p. 44), "which the Shrike gives, vary infinitely, not only 

 according to the species of Bird-of-prey which appears, but also according to the 

 mode by which it approaches whether slowly or quickly, gliding over the ground 

 or soaring aloft, and so on. It is impossible, without having observed them 

 attentively, to have an idea of the astonishing instinct of these little beings, 

 whose habits must be carefully studied before one is able to judge correctly the 

 motives of all their movements." 



VOL. I. D D 



