194 SHRIKES. 



generally speaking, of a very different character, 

 though in some cases there is a resemblance. In 

 fact, the more we examine the arrangements of 

 nature, in its orders of created beings, whether in 

 animals, birds, fishes, or insects, the more shall we 

 be struck with the beautiful connexion between the 

 several classes, into which they are divided, and 

 the utter impossibility of drawing up rules which 

 shall, without exceptions, accurately define the marks 

 of distinction. The works of God, in short, whether 

 in the animal, vegetable, or mineral world, may be 

 likened to 



The letting down a- golden chain from high ; 

 a chain of innumerable uninterrupted links, visible 

 to us only in the intermediate portions, and each at- 

 testing the wisdom and power of its great Contriver. 

 Thus, in the subject under our immediate consider- 

 ation, we find, that from the gigantic Condor, or 

 great Vulture of the Alps, to the small Humming- 

 bird, not exceeding in size a humble-bee, there is a 

 regular scale; that one class and family slides im- 

 perceptibly into another, till the most intelligent 

 naturalist feels himself at a loss to define accurately, 

 where the one ends, and the other begins. Of this 

 we have an example, in the link connecting the 

 Eagle, Hawk, and Owl tribes, with the first of the 

 numerous families which remain for consideration. 

 This link consists of a small but interesting division, 

 called the Shrikes. (Table VII., see page 13.) As 

 many of them live chiefly, if not entirely, on beetles, 

 grasshoppers, &c., they have been considered as the 

 Falcons of the insect world, pursuing and destroying 

 vast numbers of those countless multitudes that 



