202 SHRIKES. 



attentions to tlieir offspring, than the old Shrikes ; 

 feeding them most carefully, long after they have 

 left the nest, an instinctive precaution, probably 

 more necessary in these than most other birds, as, 

 for a long time, in consequence of their being heavy 

 and inactive when young, they would be unable to 

 pursue and capture those winged insects which con- 

 stitute their chief food. If taken early, they may be 

 easily tamed, but their pugnacious disposition, which 

 does not appear in their own family circle when 

 wild, is often fatally conspicuous when they are con- 

 fined in a cage. Mr. Montague, who kept several, 

 found, that at about the end of two months, violent 

 battles ensued, to such a degree, that he was obliged 

 to separate the survivors, and chain them in the 

 manner Goldfinches are frequently confined, when 

 they became very docile, would come when called, 

 for the sake of a fly, of which they were remarkably 

 fond, though they would also eat mice or birds, spit- 

 ting, or fastening them, or pieces of raw flesh, on 

 their cage, in order to tear them ; disgorging the 

 feathers, fur, and bones, in pellets, like Hawks and 

 Owls. 



Of two, thus kept for some time, the deaths were 

 rather singular ; one choked itself by swallowing 

 too large a quantity of mouse-fur, which it could 

 not disgorge, the other, by eating to such a degree, 

 that it actually died of fat and repletion; expiring in 

 Mr. Montague's hand, in a fit, when in the act of 

 feeding on insects. In some countries, the young of 

 the species of Shrike found there, are trained for 

 hawking or other purposes. 



In Russia, they are sometimes used for the former 



