220 OUE NATIVE SONGSTERS. 



all to make other fowles believe and thinke she is 

 very much distressed, and stands needfiille of ayde ; 

 whereupon, the credulous sellie birdes do flock to- 

 gether, presently at her call and voice, at what time 

 if any happen to approach neare her, she, out of hand, 

 ceazeth on them, and devoureth them, (ungrateful 

 subtile fowle !) in requital of their simplicity and 

 pains. These hawkes are of no account with us, 

 but poor simple fellowes and peasants sometimes 

 doe make them to the fiste, and being reclaimed 

 after their unskilful manners, doe have them 

 hooded, as falconers doe their other kinds of 

 hawkes, whom they make to greater purposes." 



Sir John Sebright says that the butcher-bird is 

 tied on the ground, near the tent of the falconer, 

 while the latter employs himself in some sedentary 

 occupation, relying on his vigilance to apprise him 

 of the approach of a hawk. This the bird never 

 fails to do, by screaming loudly, when the hawk is 

 seen at a distance. 



The great shrike is neither a resident nor a 

 regular visitor in our island, only coming occa- 

 sionally to this country from some portion of the 

 European continent, over a gi'eat part of which it 

 is pretty generally diffused. The season at which 



