THE SHEIKE. 217 



ornithologists, yet there seems good authority for 

 believing that it exists. Bechstein says of our 

 shrike, that it imitates the notes, though not the 

 songs, of other birds ; and the statement of a 

 writer in the Naturalist tends to confirm this 

 opinion. This writer tells us that he was first 

 led to discover this shrike, by hearing notes very 

 similar to those of a stonechat, yet not quite 

 familiar to his ear. These he ascertained were 

 uttered by the butcher-bird, and as he listened he 

 found them soon exchanged for softer and more 

 melodious tones ; not, however, prolonged into a 

 continuous song or strain. Wliether the opinion, 

 held from, earliest times, be true or false, that the 

 shrike lures the singing bird into its clutches by 

 imitating its tunc, we well know that the small 

 birds, as well as various animals, have good reason 

 to dread it, both for its power and skill in making 

 them its prey ; and they seem terrified by its pre- 

 sence near their nests. It feeds on mice, shrews, 

 frogs, lizards, and small birds ; adding to its meal 

 some of our larger insects, as grasshoppers and 

 beetles. Nor will a small amount of food sufiice 

 to satisfy its appetite. Its own voracity, and that 

 of its hungry little ones, make great demands on 



