V 



THE BUTCHER-BIRD 



" BUTCHER-BIRD " is not a very pretty name, 

 but it is expressive and appropriate, and so is 

 likely to stick quite as long as the more bookish 

 word " shrike/' which is the bird's other title. 

 It comes from its owner's habit of impaling 1 the 

 carcasses of its prey upon thorns, as a butcher 

 hangs upon a hook the body of a pig or other 

 animal that he has slaughtered. 



In a place like the Public Garden of Boston, 

 if a shrike happens to make it his hunting-ground 

 for a week or two, you may find here and there 

 in the hawthorn-trees the body of a mouse or the 

 headless trunk of an English sparrow spitted upon 

 a thorn. Grasshoppers are said to be treated 

 in a similar manner, but I have never met with 

 the bird's work in the grasshopper season. 



The shrike commonly seen in the Northern 

 States is a native of the far north, and comes 

 down to our latitude only in cold weather. He 

 travels singly, and if he finds a place to suit him, 

 a place where the living is good, he will often 



