216 OUR TsATlVE SONGSTERS. 



birds look almost like little lumps of down, as they 

 wind their way among the boughs, in pursuit of 

 insects. They have several call-notes, and though 

 one of these is very soft and low, it hardly deserves 

 to be called a song. 



The nest is usually placed so firmly in a bush, 

 in the very centre of the boughs, that these must 

 be cut away by any one who would preserve its 

 beauty. The eggs are ten or twelve in number, 

 small and wliite, sometimes speckled with a few 

 red dots. The long-tailed tit is common in 

 almost all our woods and shrubberies, and its 

 food consists almost entirely of insects. 



Kesembling tlie titmice in their carnivorous pro- 

 pensities, the Shrikes have a far higher reputation 

 as singing birds. The Great Grey Shrike* {Lanius 

 exci(hitor), the cruel butcher-bird, has a sweet 

 warbling song, though its rich melody is sometimes 

 lessened by the intermingling of some harsh tones. 

 It is said to have a power of imitating the notes 

 of other birds, and though this is denied by some 



* The Grey Strike is ten inches in length. Whole upper parti 

 pearl grey ; wings and tail black, tipped with white ; a patch of 

 white at the base of the primaries ; a band of black passes from 

 the beak to the ear-coverts, enclosing the eye ; under jxirts pure 

 white : beak and feet black. 



