Butcher Birds. 117 



position, so cruel and bloodthirsty are their habits, though, at the 

 same time, their slender limbs and feet prove them to be true 

 Perchers. They also merit the foremost place in the tribe 

 Dentirostres, from the very marked and distinct tooth near the 

 point of the upper mandible, rendering the beak a very powerful 

 instrument for the destruction of small creatures. But, in truth, 

 they partake both of the habits of the preceding raptorial 

 families, and also of the next family, the Flycatchers : for, on the 

 one hand, in addition to their savage sanguinary disposition, 

 they reproduce castings formed of the elytra and other hard 

 parts of coleoptera. On the other hand, like the Flycatchers, they 

 often sit watching on the bare branch of a tree, or on a post or 

 railing, whence their vision can extend over a considerable range, 

 and whence they can dart after any passing insect or small 

 quadruped or bird. They will often hover, too, in the air above 

 the branch on which they are about to alight ; and when sitting 

 watchfully on a bough they will frequently jerk the tail ; in both 

 which last-mentioned habits again they much resemble the Fly- 

 catchers, to which they are in some measure allied. They prey 

 on mice, small birds, grasshoppers, beetles, and other coleopterous 

 insects ;* and these they will impale (as soon as caught) on 

 some thorn or pointed stake, which they thus convert into a 

 temporary larder. For this strange and cruel custom no very 

 satisfactory reason has been given ; though some have attributed 

 it to the greater facility it presents for tearing in pieces their 

 prey, and this seems not improbable when we contrast their 



* Sir John Bowring mentions among the curiosities of Spanish com- 

 mercial legislation, ' a decree of the Governor of the Philippines issued only 

 a few years ago, by which it was ordered that no vessel should be allowed to 

 introduce a cargo from China or the East Indies, unless an engagement was 

 entered into by the captain to bring to Manilla five hundred living Shrikes, a 

 species of bird reputed to be most useful in destroying certain insects, 

 which were at that time seriously damaging the crops. The difficulty of 

 catching, caging, and keeping these birds does not seem to have embarrassed 

 the Governor, however it may have puzzled the skippers. It may be un- 

 necessary to add, that not one bird was ever brought to the Philippines, 

 which is scarcely to be wondered at, since all were to be delivered gratis.' 

 Quarterly Review for April, 1862, p. 509, note to article on ' The Eastern 

 Archipelago.' 



