20 EVERYDAY BIRDS 



remain almost in the same spot for weeks 

 together. 



In size and appearance he resembles the mock- 

 ingbird. His colors are gray, black, and white, 

 his tail is long, and his bill is hooked like a 

 hawk's. 



He likes a perch from which he can see a good 

 distance about him. A telegraph wire answers 

 his purpose very well, but his commonest seat is 

 the very tip of a tallish tree. If you look across 

 a field in winter and descry a medium-sized bird 

 swaying on the topmost twig of a lonesome tree, 

 balancing himself by continual tiltings of his 

 long tail, you may set him down as most likely 

 a butcher-bird. 



His flight is generally not far from the ground, 

 but as he draws near the tree in which he means 

 to alight, he turns suddenly upward. It would 

 be surprising to see him alight on one of the 

 lower branches, or anywhere, indeed, except at 

 the topmost point. 



Small birds are all at once scarce and silent 

 when the shrike appears. Sometimes in his 

 hunger he will attack a bird heavier than him- 

 self. I had once stopped to look at a flicker in a 

 roadside apple-tree, when I suddenly noticed a 

 butcher-bird not far off. At the same moment, 

 as it seemed, the butcher-bird caught sight of the 

 flicker, and made a swoop toward him. The 



