True Shrikes 729 



three genera) the entire membership of this subfamily has been included within 

 the limits of a single genus (Lanius), though largely on the basis of color a 

 recent authority has separated this host of more than seventy forms into six 

 genera, the principal one still being Lanius, to which is assigned nearly half 

 the forms. They are mainly natives of the Old World, ranging widely over 

 the Palsearctic, African, and Indian regions, and although present in the New 

 World are represented by only two species and a small number of geographical 

 races, none of which occurs south of Mexico. 



The name of Shrike as applied to these birds is of very ancient origin, being 

 derived, it is thought, from the Anglo-Saxon, signifying a bird that screeches or 

 shrieks, since their ordinary notes are harsh and often grating. Another 

 almost equally well known, popular appellation is that of Butcher-bird, which 

 of course comes from their distinctly rapacious habits, but these are but a frac- 

 tion of the local names commonly applied to them, M. Holland, for instance, 

 having listed nearly a hundred that are thus ' bestowed in France and Savoy 

 alone. Shrikes are for the most part bold and fearless birds, sometimes shy, 

 but usually indifferent to the presence of man, ordinarily going about singly or 

 in couples and frequenting mostly open situations such as bushy hillsides, hedge- 

 rows, orchards, or fields where there are scattered trees. As if conscious of its 

 prowess the Shrike makes little attempt at concealment, but, appropriating to 

 himself sufficient territory for his needs within the limits of which no other bird 

 may safely intrude, he "becomes the terror of the neighborhood, and woe to 

 the unlucky Finch or Warbler that dares to rustle in the nearest bush !" But 

 it must not be inferred, says Dr. Coues, that he "is always on the war-path, intent 

 on prodigies of valor. The doughtiest knights lay aside their armor at times 

 and the Shrike is fond of his ease in the intervals of his piratical enterprises. At 

 such times you may observe him lounging about with his hands in his pockets, 

 so to speak, and nothing on his mind. Sometimes you will see him ready for 

 business, scanning the neighborhood closely from his watch-tower on the top- 

 most twig of some bush or sapling, where he stands stiffly, bolt upright, like a 

 soldier on dress parade, ready to move at a moment's warning. He makes a 

 rather imposing picture just then in his uniform of French gray with black and 

 white facings (Dr. Coues is speaking of the American Butcher-bird), which fits 

 him 'like a dream': the next instant whish ! he is gone, and the piteous 

 cry of a Sparrow in yonder bush tells the rest of the story." 



Shrikes subsist on large insects, especially grasshoppers and locusts, small 

 frogs, and reptiles, as well as small mammals, such as mice, and shrews, and birds, 

 many of them quite as large as themselves. In capturing their prey, they do 

 not grasp it in the feet as do the Hawks, but strike it down by a blow from the 

 strong bill, the hooked and toothed tip of which is admirably adapted for cutting 

 and tearing it. They are bold and audacious in the pursuit of their quarry, 

 frequently attacking caged birds and even entering open windows to get at the 

 pets, and they have the universal habit of impaling their prey on sharp branches 

 or thorns, sometimes, it is asserted, before life is extinct. It is of common occur- 

 rence to find a thorny bush bearing quite a collection of spitted grasshoppers, 



