THE RED-BACKED SHRIKE, 359 



while around it are stuck humble bees, cocktail beetles, ground 

 beetles, and a variety of other insects, each impaled upon a 

 thorn, and forming admirable indications to the nest-huntec* 

 Sometimes, but seldom, young birds are impaled instead of 

 insects, and in such cases they are always callow nestlings, and 

 are fixed by a thorn run between the skin and the flesh, instead 

 of being pierced through the body, as is the method employed 

 with insects. 



There is a popular idea that the bird always has nine im- 

 paled creatures at hand, and that when it eats one it catches 

 another, and with it replaces the one which has been eaten. 

 In consequence of this notion, which prevails through several 

 countries, the bird is called Nine-killer. The generic name, 

 Enneoctonus, is composed of two Greek words which have a 

 similar signification. So strongly is this idea held by some 

 persons, that I have seen a treatise upon instinct, where the 

 Shrike was gravely produced as an example of arithmetical 

 powers possessed by birds. These theories generally fail when 

 confronted by facts. I have seen numberless Shrikes' nests ; 

 and, though in some cases there may have been nine impaled 

 animals, in some there were more and in others less. 



The nest itself is neatly, though loosely, built of roots, moss, 

 wool, and vegetable fibres, and is lined with hair. I have mostly 

 noticed it about five feet from the ground ; and, although it is 

 said to be closely hidden, have always found it a peculiarly 

 conspicuous nest. 



