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Dr. Albert Gunther,



ally they pick up food. In size they are scarcely to be distin¬

guished from their parents, but their tails are onty half the full

length. The third is more backward, though apparently in good

health.


Aug. 9th. All went well during the week. If kept in a

cage by themselves the young Shrikes would now entirely feed

themselves, but as the parents seem to take special delight in

carrying the food, the young are never hungry enough to cater,

for themselves, although they pick up scraps which happen to

come in their way. In some respects it might be better now to

cage them. The hen is sometimes busy hunting for small earth¬

worms, which she tears into smaller pieces to give to the young.

I have never before noticed a Shrike eating them. She also

confines her care in feeding to one of her children, the strongest,

which usually settles on a particular perch, whilst the cock

attends upon the two others which are of a more roaming dis¬

position. I often witness the feeding during the day, but since I

observed the partiality of the parents to particular young ones,

I have never noticed a variation of this habit.


Aug. 14th. The young help themselves freely from the

dish containing the food for the family; but mealworms and

similar tit-bits are still carried to them by their parents. They

can be distinguished from the old hen by their lighter colour

only ; one, probably a male, exceeds its mother in size. The old

male has recommenced to sing, one of the young often sitting

beside him.


Aug. 28th. The parents have discontinued to feed the

young, and leave them entirely to their own resources.


The Butcher-bird sitting 011 the top of a hedge-row or

thorn-bush is a familiar object, and there will be but few orni¬

thologists who have not seen its larder and are not otherwise

well acquainted with its habits and domestic economy generally.

But there are certain of its habits and traits in its character

which it would be difficult to observe in the field, and which in

my opinion render this species particularly attractive and full of

interest to the aviculturist. Some of its habits remind us of

those of the smaller Hawks : such as the manner in which it uses



