SHRIKES. 201 



ation can be pointed out, it has been often remarked, 

 that an insect, or a plant, abundant in one place, is 

 not to be found in another, at no great distance. 



A few years ago, a naturalist, for curiosity, re- 

 moved to his garden several webs-full of the larvae 

 of the brown-tail moth (Ph. phceorrheus\ which, 

 from its numbers and voracity had been looked 

 upon as a perfect scourge where it abounded. For 

 a time, the caterpillars seemed to feed and thrive, 

 and finally, spun themselves up. In the next season 

 however, few came forth ; and at the season when 

 the hedge might have been expected to swarm with 

 the newly hatched eggs, not one appeared. But, to 

 return to our Shrikes ; in the parts of England fre- 

 quented by them, no great difficulty or acute obser- 

 vation is requisite for finding them out. In the 

 first place, the bird announces its arrival by a 

 croaking and most unmusical voice, from the sum- 

 mit of some tree ; then it builds a large and ill- 

 concealed nest, which, if not found out by actual 

 detection, the male will usually discover by its own 

 imprudence, manifesting great uneasiness and cla- 

 mour when any one approaches. No sooner are the 

 eggs hatched, than the female lends her aid to the 

 discovery of her brood, uniting her vociferations to 

 those of the male. And should the nest, by extra- 

 ordinary good-luck, continue undiscovered, no sooner 

 are the young ones capable of making a noise, than 

 they all join in the cry upon any approach to their 

 bush. We have noticed the lengthened kindness 

 existing between the old and young birds ; this 

 begins from the moment of their issuing from the 

 egg ; for no birds can be more assiduous in their 



