TTTE LESSEE. GEEY SHEIKE. 65 



known it draw the weak young pheasants through the bars of 

 the breeding coops ; and others have assured me that they have 

 killed them when banqueting on the carcase of some little bird 

 they had captured. All small birds have an antipathy to the 

 Shrike, betray anger, and utter the moan of danger when it ap- 

 proaches their nests. I have often heard this signal of distress, 

 and cautiously approaching to learn the cause, have frequently 

 found that this Butcher-bird occasioned it. They will mob, at- 

 tack, and drive it away, as they do the Owl, as if fully acquainted 

 with its plundering propensities. LINN^US attached to it the 

 trivial epithet * Excubitor,' a sentinel ; a very apposite appel- 

 lation, as this bird seldom conceals itself in a bush, but sits 

 perched upon some upper spray, or in an open situation, heedful 

 of danger, or watching for its prey. This Shrike must be most 

 mischievously inclined, if not a predatory bird. May 23d. A 

 pair of robins have young ones in a bank near my dwelling ; 

 the anxiety and vociferation of the poor things have three times 

 this day called my attention to the cause of their distress, and 

 each time have I seen this bird watching near the place, or 

 stealing away upon my approach, and then the tumult of the 

 parents subsided ; but had they not experienced injury, or been 

 aware that it was meditated, all this terror and outcry would not 

 have been excited." 



There is another reason given by YAEBELL, for the term sen- 

 tinel applied to this bird ; " it is used," he says, " by falconers 

 abroad when trapping Falcons. The Shrike is fastened to the 

 ground, and, by screaming loudly, gives notice to the falconer, 

 who is concealed, of the approach of a Hawk. It was on this 

 account, therefore, called excubitor the sentinel." The generic 

 name laniusa, butcher comes from lanio, to cut or tear to 

 pieces : 



" The Butcher-bird bold, like his kinsman the Shrike, 

 With his bill ever ready the death-blow to strike." 



5. THE LESSEE GEEY SHEIKE. 



Lanius Minor, LIN. Pie yriesche d' Italic, BUF. Der graue Wurger, 

 oder kleine Krickelster, BECH. 



Description. This bird, about the size of a Lark, is eight 

 inches in length, of which the tail measures three inches and 

 one-third. The folded wings cover a third of the tail. The beak 

 is glossy black, seven lines in length, straight at the base, like 

 that of all other Shrikes, but somewhat bent over at the point, 

 and provided with a small tooth. The iris is brown, the feet 



F 



