ON BOSTON COMMON. 13 



ing his beautifully bordered tail and screaming 

 loudly. Whether these demonstrations were in- 

 tended to express delight, or anger, or contempt, 

 I could not judge ; but he seized the body, car- 

 ried it back to its old place, drove it again upon 

 the thorn, and proceeded to devour it more 

 voraciously than ever, scattering the feathers 

 about in a lively way as he tore it to pieces. 

 The third man, who had never before seen such 

 a thing, stepped up within reach of the bush, 

 and eyed the performance at his leisure, the 

 shrike not deigning to mind him in the least. 

 A few mornings later the same bird gave me 

 another and more amusing exhibition of his 

 nonchalance. He was singing from the top of 

 our one small larch-tree, and I had stopped 

 near the bridge to look and listen, when a milk- 

 man entered at the Commonwealth Avenue 

 gate, both hands full of cans, and, without no- 

 ticing the shrike, walked straight under the 

 tree. Just then, however, he heard the notes 

 overhead, and, looking up, saw the bird. As 

 if not knowing what to make of the creature's 

 assurance, he stared at him for a moment, and 

 then, putting down his load, he seized the trunk 

 with both hands, and gave it a good shake. 

 But the bird only took a fresh hold ; and when 

 the man let go, and stepped back to look up, 

 there he sat, to all appearance as unconcerned 



