BRITISH BIRDS. IOQ 



This bird is rarely found in the cultivated parts 

 of the country, preferring mountainous wilds, 

 among furze and thorny thickets. Buffon says it is 

 common in France, where it continues all the year: 

 it is met with likewise in Russia, and various parts 

 of Europe; it preys on small birds, which it seizes 

 by the throat, and after strangling, fixes them on a 

 sharp thorn, and tears them in pieces with its bill. 

 When kept in a cage, it sticks its food against the 

 wires before it will eat it. It is said to imitate the 

 notes of the smaller singing birds, thereby drawing 

 them nearer its haunts, in order more securely to 

 seize them. 



The foregoing figure and description were taken 

 from a very fine specimen, for which this work is 

 indebted to the late Major H. F. Gibson, of the 4th 

 dragoons. 



