RED-BACKED SHRIKE 115 



the shrike does not often attack small birds ; and this would seem a 

 reasonable view to take when we consider that the bird is no bigger 

 than a skylark. But it is impossible to follow with the eye all the 

 wanderings and the actions of all kinds that go to make the day of 

 any wild bird ; we really see only a very small part of the killing 

 that goes on. The little feathered butcher is small in size, but his 

 spirit is bold, and his taste for flesh not to be doubted. In a question 

 of this kind I believe our slight intermittent observation is less to 

 be depended on than the reputation if such a word may be used 

 in this connection which the shrike bears among his feathered 

 fellow-creatures. He is by them reputed dangerous, a bird of prey 

 to be avoided, or at least regarded with extreme suspicion. We are 

 accustomed to say that we do not know a man until we come to 

 live with him ; and the small birds live with the shrike, and there- 

 fore know him best. 



The red-backed shrike is a summer visitor, arriving in this 

 country early in April, and is not an uncommon species in England 

 and Wales, being most numerous in the southern counties ; but its 

 range does not extend to Ireland, and in North Britain it is only 

 known as a straggler. It inhabits the open borders of woods, 

 rough commons, and high hedges, and has the habit of sitting con- 

 spicuously perched, often for an hour at a stretch, on the summit of 

 an isolated bush or low tree, or on a fence or any other elevated 

 stand, where it has a pretty appearance. From its perch it watches 

 for its prey, but is by no means a motionless and depressed-looking 

 watcher, like the flycatcher : its movements on its stand, as it turns 

 its head from side to side and jerks and fans its tail, frequently 

 uttering its low, percussive, chat-like chirp or call-note, give the 

 impression of a creature keenly alive to everything passing around 

 it. The shrike is, in fact, attentively watching air, earth, and the 

 surrounding herbage and bushes for a victim, which he captures 

 by a sudden dart, taking it by surprise. Besides small vertebrates, 

 he preys on various large insects beetles, grasshoppers, wasps, 

 bees, &c. seizing them in the air as they fly past, or dropping 

 upon them on the ground. He often devours the insects 

 captured on the spot, then returns to his stand ; but he also has a 

 favourite thorn-bush or tree to which he is accustomed to convey 

 many of the creatures he takes, to impale them on thorns or fix 

 them on forked twigs. He has the habit of plucking birds before 

 devouring them ; and it is doubtless easier for him to pluck a small 

 bird and pull anything he catches to pieces when fixed on a thorn, 



