PLATE XLII. NORTHERN SHRIKE. BUTCHER-BIRD. 



Lanius borealis. 



Above light bluish-gray shading to still lighter on the rump ; beneath 

 white, crossed with dark, wavy lines ; sides of head hoary white, with 

 a black stripe passing through and behind the eye ; wings and tail black, 

 the former with a white patch and some white tippings, the latter much 

 rounded, and edged and broadly tipped with white ; bill and feet dark. 

 Length, 10 inches. 



The Shrike is usually seen here from November to April. Truly a bird of prey, though 

 not classed as such by ornithologists. Besides insects, it captures small birds and even 

 animals, which it devours. It has a curious habit, from which it derives its name, Butcher- 

 bird, of impaling the creatures which it has seized upon thorns, as a butcher would hang 

 up a carcass. 



The observer who is fortunate enough to have witnessed the Shrike thus slaughtering 

 its victim, has probably condemned the bird as a monster of needless cruelty. But in this 



