90 HISTORY OF 



ed beak, courage, and appetites for slaughter, certainly deserve a 

 place here.* The lesser butcher-bird is not much above the 

 size of a lark; that of the smallest species is not so big as a 

 sparrow; yet, diminutive as these little animals are, they 

 make themselves formidable to birds of four times their dimen. 



sions 



The greater butcher-bird is about as large as a thrush ; its biJl 

 is black, an inch long and hooked at the end. This mark, to- 

 gether with its carnivorous appetites, ranks it among the rapa- 

 cious birds ; at the same time that its legs and feet, which are 

 slender, and its toes, formed somewhat differently from the 



* The tribe of birds here noticed under the name of butcher-birds are 

 other^vise called shrikes. Shrikes are spread over the entire globe, and 

 e^r^vhere exhibit similar dispositions, habits, and modes of existence. Of 

 LTsize. but am.ed ^.dth a strong ai.d crooked beak, of a fierce and cour.u 

 «ous disposition, and of a sangmnary appetite, they bear much affinity to 

 ?he birds of prev. Naturally intrepid, they defend themselves vigorously, 

 and do not hesitate to attack birds much stronger and larger than them 

 Belves The European shrikes can combat with advantage, pies, crows, and 

 even kestrels. They attack and pursue these birds with great ferocity, if 

 they dare to approach their nests. It is even sufficient if any of them should 

 S within reach. The male and female shrikes unite, fly forth, attack them 

 ITthlud cries, and pursue them ^vith such fury, that they often take to 

 flight without daring to return. Even kites, buzzards, and ravens «ill not 

 wUlingly attack the shrike. They are habitually insectivorou^ and also 

 pursue small birds. They will cast themselves on thrushes. blackbu-,^,&c., 

 when these last are taken in a snare. When they have seized a bird they 

 open the cranium, devour the brain, deplume the body, and tear it piece- 



'"The prudence to foresee and provide for the wants of the future, is ano- 

 ther of their qualities. That they may not fail of those insects which form 

 their subsistence, and which only make their appearance at a determinate 

 epoch, some shrikes form kinds of magazines, not in the hollows of trees, 

 nor in the earth, but in the open air. They stick their superabundant prey 

 on thorns, where they may find it again in the hour of neei 



Falconers have taken the advantage of the character of these birds, and 

 occasionally trained them to the chase. Francis the First of France, accord- 

 ing to the account of Turner, was accustomed to hunt with a tame shrike, 

 wfiichusedto speak, and return upon the hand. The Swedish hunters. 

 rvMhnrthemselves of the habit of the grey shrike of uttering a pecnhar 

 sorfof cry at the approach of a han-k, make use of it to discover the birds 

 cf prey which this kind of cry announces. 



Though we have said that the shrike genus is extended over the enfre 

 Llobe we believe South America must be excepted. The South Arae- 

 r can'birds which have been called shrikes belong to other divisions, and it 

 ^uld appear that this genus does not pass beyond the Flor.das, Louisiana, 

 ADd the north of Mexico. 



