74 THE RAVEX. 



they often jerk the tail, another habit in accordance with the Flj- 

 catchers, to which they are considerably allied. They subsist 

 chiefly on beetles and humble-bees, and render essential service in 

 spring by devouring great numbers of the large female wasps, 

 destroying what would otherwise become the founders of colonies 

 of these troublesome and destructive insects. I have taken four 

 or five from the stomach of a single bird. Chaffers they seize, 

 and then flying to a perch, transfer them to the foot, holdingthem 

 up in one foot like a Parrot, while they pick them to pieces. vV~hen 

 satiated, they eat only the abdomen, and impale the still living 

 body upon a thorn, a habit common to all the genus. They prey 

 also occasionally on small birds, lizards, mice, and shrews, and I 

 have known several instances of their being taken in the nets of 

 bird-catchers, when endeavouring to seize upon the brace-birds. 

 They do not (like the L. excubiter) attack a bird upon the whig, 

 but pounce down upon those which happen to be on the ground, 

 or upon a branch beneath, in the latter case bearing down their 

 prey to the ground, seizing it with both bill and claws, and ex- 

 panding over it the wings and tail in precisely the manner 

 of a Hawk, then despatching it, not by strangulation, but by 

 biting and compressing the head, and picking a hole in the skull. 

 It is then carried in the beak to the horizontal bough of a tree, 

 where the Shrike places one foot upon its victim, and never leaves 

 it I believe, when undisturbed, till all is finished." The average 

 weight of the male bird is said to be about an ounce, and yet it 

 will attack and devour birds and animals of considerable size : 

 in the Linncean Transactions, one is recorded to have been seen in 

 pursuit of a Blackbird (vol. xv. p. 14). 



When these birds are in full plumage, the red which covers 

 their back and wings, though of a brownish tint, is very rich ; 

 and as they jerk through the air, it has the appearance of flashes 

 of dull fire, on which account they have been called " flashers," 

 or " flushers." 



8. THE KAVEN. 



Corvus Corax, LIN. Le Corbeau, BUF. Der Gemeine Rabe oder 

 Kolkrabe, BECH. 



Description and Observations. This and the three following 

 species are not aviary birds, in the proper sense of the word ; 

 but as they may be taught to speak, and are often reared from 

 the nest with that view, they claim, for completeness' sake, a 

 notice in this place. 



The Raven is a well-known bird ; it is two feet in length, 

 of which the somewhat cone.-formed tail measures eight inches 

 and three-quarters. The whole bird is black, tinged on the 



