130 FAMILIAR WILD BIRDS. 



and remaining with us from May until September or 

 October. It is more frequently met with in the southern 

 counties of England than in the north. Sussex, Essex, 

 Middlesex, Suffolk, Kent, and Dorsetshire may be mentioned 

 as localities where the bird is perhaps seen in the greatest 

 abundance. Although nowhere a common bird, it is met 

 with in Wales, but very rarely in Scotland or Ireland. 



The name " Butcher-bird/ ; by which the Red-backed 

 Shrike is generally known, is certainly not a very enticing 

 title, but the peculiar habits which have given rise 

 to the appellation undoubtedly justify the selection, the 

 bird literally converting the top of some hedgerow or 

 thorn-bush which it frequents, into a sort of shambles, im- 

 paling beetles and other small specimens of animated 

 nature upon which it feeds, upon the sharp thorns. This 

 remarkable habit of the Red-backed Shrike has given 

 rise to considerable difference of opinion amongst natura- 

 lists as to the motive which induces the bird to act 

 in so strange and unusual a way. Many have thought 

 that it was merely a considerate way which the male had 

 in providing an easy supply of food for his mate 

 during the period of incubation, whilst others aver that 

 the idea of providing against any unlooked-for failure 

 in the provision market must be the secret of the bird's 

 behaviour. Our own opinion is that it is merely one of 

 those freaks or eccentricities which we so commonly find 

 in connection with birds, and which, like the pilfering 

 propensity of the Pie family, and the love of mischief in 

 others, cannot be traced to, or connected with, any actual 

 necessity or advantage. 



The Red-backed Shrike is a somewhat indiscriminate 

 feeder, beetles of various sorts being most highly prized, 



