64 NATURAL HISTORY. 



powerful bird. The name of Butcher Bird is given, to this and other species of Shrikes on account of 

 the habit which these birds have of spitting their prey upon thorns, and often quite a collection of 

 victims may be seen impaled upon a hedge, so as to form what is popularly called a " Shrike's 

 Larder." The food of the present species consists of field mice, beetles, grasshoppers, frogs, lizards, 

 and blind worms, but it will also devour small birds, and even rob nests. As an instance of its 

 pertinacity in capturing its food may be quoted the following note by a German naturalist,* Mr. Carl 

 Miiller : " During this winter I had the opportunity of often observing a Great Grey Shrike. He 

 lorded it over a considerable tract, and, Shrike-like, preferred the hedges and young lime-trees 

 skirting an avenue, where, emboldened by hunger and the severe weather, he watched for his prey, 

 undisturbed by the passers-by. I often saw him fly a considerable distance, then suddenly rise in his 

 flight and hover over one spot. Once when flying along he observed a mouse ; he turned sharply 

 round, and, hovering, commenced a careful examination of the ground ; and his watchfulness and 

 perseverance astonished me. Now he would hover from thirty to forty feet above the ground, now 

 only ten to fifteen feet ; then flying down to a small mound, he would sit with outstretched neck and 

 eager glance, carefully surveying every spot near him, and after watching for a time would again take 

 to wing. For more than ten minutes he waited and searched for the mouse, and then flew off to a 

 thorn-bush about one hundred yards distant. But he had not given up the chase, for after a short 

 rest he again returned to where he had first observed the animal, and repeated the search. He 

 persevered even longer than before, and at last secured his prey by a quick surprise and several hard 

 blows with the bill, delivered as he was hopping and fluttering over it. This Shrike once attacked a 

 Blackbird I used to feed, which had become quite tame. He came behind it as it was feeding, threw 

 it on its back, and, holding it fast with his claws, gave it repeated blows on the head with his beak, 

 and, had I not hastened to the rescue, would soon have killed it. It may not be generally known 

 that the Shrike is attracted to its prey not only by sight, but also by the sense of hearing. I have seen 

 him hunt by ear after a young Lark, neglected by its parents, crouched in the grass calling for food, 

 or a young Goldfinch sitting chirping on the ground ; and he is well acquainted with the difference in 

 the call-note of young and old birds. The note of the Great Grey Shrike is harsh. Naumaim very 

 correctly describes it as follows : ' Its cry is sch'dch, schach, and the call-note truii. On bright winter 

 days, and particularly in spring, it may be heard uttering a sort of song composed of low notes mixed 

 with its call-note ; and it often also mixes with its song the notes of small birds. Both male and female 

 sing, and they often call like the Skylark. Its nest is generally placed at some height on a tree or 

 large thorn-bush, and is somewhat bulky and loose-looking, though the inside is carefully finished. 

 The foundation and outside are composed of dry sticks and twigs, straws and moss ; and it is lined 

 with wool and hair.' " The Great Grey Shrike is about nine and a half inches in length, and is of a 

 light blue-grey colour, with the lower region of the eye and ear-coverts black, separated from the 

 grey of the head by a thin white eyebrow and frontal band ; the cheeks and under surface of the 

 body are white ; the wings are black, with white tips to the quills, and a broad double band of white 

 formed by the bases of the primaries and outer secondaries ; the scapulars are tipped with white ; 

 tail black, with white tips increasing in extent towards the outermost feathers, which are almost 

 entirely white. Bill black ; legs slender, dark brownish -black. 



THE ELEVENTH FAMILY OF THRUSH-LIKE PERCHING BIRDS. THE GREENLETS (Vireonidas). 



These constitute a small American family, which have apparently much in common with the Shrikes. 

 The bill is notched in both mandibles, the tail consists of ten feathers, and the tarsi are scaled in 

 front. The .name Greenlet well illustrates the prevailing colour of their plumage. In Jamaica 

 one of the Greenlets was described by Brown many years ago under the name of " Whip-Tom-Kelly ;" 

 and Mr. Gosse t writes of the same species ( Vireosylvia calidris) as follows : " Much oftener heard 

 than seen, though not unfamiliar to either sense, this sober- coloured bird is one of those whose 

 notes have such a similarity to articulations as to procure them a common appellation. The Fly- 

 catchers, in general, are not very vociferous, but this is pertinacious in its tritonous call, repeating 

 it with energy every two or three seconds. It does not ordinarily sit on a prominent twig or 



* "Journal fur Ornithologie," 1868, p. 159. t "Birds of Jamaica," p. 194. 



