536 GREAT CINEREOUS SHRIKE. 



It bites with great pertinacity, and will seldom let go its hold unless its 

 throat is squeezed. 



Its flight is strong, swift, and sustained : it moves through the air in 

 long undulations which have each an extent of twenty or thirty yards, 

 but it seldom rises very high, unless for the purpose of obtaining a good 

 point of observation, and in its usual flight merely passes over the tops of 

 the low bushes rapidly and in silence, in starts of from fifty to a hundred 

 yards. I never saw one walk or move on the ground. 



They are extremely fond of crickets and grasshoppers, as well as 

 other kinds of insects, and they feed on the flesh of birds whenever they 

 can procure it. The individuals which I have kept in cages, appeared 

 well pleased with pieces of fresh beef, but they generally remained dull 

 and sullen until they died. As it was only during winter that I had 

 them in confinement, when no coleopterous insects could be procured, I 

 had no opportunity of observing if, like Hawks, they have the power of 

 throwing up hard particles of the food which they swallow, although I 

 should suppose this to be the case. Their propensity to impale insects 

 and small birds on the sharp points of twigs and on thorns, which they so 

 frequently do at all seasons of the year, is quite a mystery to me, as I 

 cannot conceive what its object may be. 



I have represented four of these birds of different ages, and therefore 

 differing in colour and size, leaving to the naturalists of Europe to de- 

 termine, if they can, whether the American species be the same as the 

 one found in that portion of the globe. For my part, I believe the two 

 to be the same. In our species the transverse lines of the breast disappear 

 as the bird advances in age, when the tint of the upper part of the plum- 

 •age also becomes lighter. 



XiANius ExcuBiTOH, Linn. Svst. Nat. vol. i. p. 135 Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. i. 



p. 67. 

 l.ANius sEPTENTRiONALis, Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. p. 72. 

 Lanius borealis, Vieill. Ois. de I'Amer. vol. i. p. 80. pi. 50 — Swains, and Richards. 



Fauna Bor. Amer. vol. ii. p. HI. pi. 33. (Young.) 

 Great Cinereous Shrike, Mont. Omith. Diet — Selby, Illustrations, vol. i. p. 148. 

 Great American Shrike or Butcher Bird, Lanius Excubitor, Wils. Amer. 



Ornith. vol. p. 74. pi. 5. fig. I Nuttall, Manual, part i. p. 25. 



Adult Male. CXCII. Fig. 1. 



Bill of moderate length, strong, compressed ; upper mandible with the 



