BIEDS AND BIRDS 135 



himself here against all opposition, overrunning our 

 houses and barns, while the native species is rarely 

 seen. And when has anybody seen the American 

 rat, while his congener from across the water has 

 penetrated to every part of the continent ! By the 

 next train that takes the family to some Western 

 frontier, arrives this pest. Both our rat and mouse 

 or mice are timid, harmless, delicate creatures, com- 

 pared with the cunning, filthy, and prolific speci- 

 mens that have fought their way to us from the Old 

 World. There is little doubt, also, that the red fox 

 has been transplanted to this country from Europe. 

 He is certainly on the increase, and is fast running 

 out the native gray species. 



Indeed, I have thought that all forms of life in 

 the Old World were marked by greater prominence 

 of type, or stronger characteristic and fundamental 

 qualities, than with us, — coarser and more hairy 

 and virile, and therefore more powerful and lasting. 

 This opinion is still subject to revision, but I find 

 it easier to confirm it than to undermine it. 



But let me change the strain and contemplate for 

 a few moments this feathered bandit, — this bird 

 with the mark of Cain upon him, Lanius borealis, 

 — the great shrike or butcher-bird. Usually the 

 character of a bird of prey is well defined; there is 

 no mistaking him. His claws, his beak, his head, 

 his wings, in fact his whole build, point to the fact 

 that he subsists upon live creatures; he is armed to 



