600 BRITISH BIRDS. 



enougli to hold it, and lie sticks it on a thorn to devour it at his leisure, a 

 proceeding which one would think would require great strength. It is 

 evident that the strength of the Great Grey Shrike lies m his neck, and 

 not in his legs. Like many birds of prey, he has his favourite feeding- 

 place, some convenient spot in a hedgerow, probably chosen because the 

 footing was good and the thorns sharp; and to this place he brings his 

 prey during the day ; and there an accumulation of the remains of his 

 meals are discovered. Probably he has a dozen such places in various 

 parts of the district in which he hunts. I remember finding one of these 

 so-called larders in a hedge on a road-side a few miles from Valconswaard^ 

 close to a gate. The thorns were very long and sharp ; and there were the 

 dried-up remains of half-a-dozen mice, '^vhich had evidently been eaten 

 except the feet, tail, and part of the skin. The discovery of these feeding- 

 places has given rise to the myth that the Shrikes catch more than they 

 can eat, and hang up the surplus in a larder for future use. In addition 

 to mice it also eats small birds and insects. Naumann says that it will 

 even attack birds almost as large as itself, and has been known to take 

 Eedwings. He writes : — " In summer it contents itself principally with 

 insects (especially beetles and grasshoppers), small frogs, lizards, and 

 blindworms. This is proved by an examination of the pellets which they 

 cast up. In winter, on the contrary, these consist chiefly of the hair and 

 bones of mice and the feathers of birds. He is very fond of newly fledged 

 birds, and will plunder nests of their young ; but in the breeding-season he 

 seldom attacks adult birds." 



Although the Great Grey Shrike retires into the outskirts of the woods 

 to breed, or selects some plantation where he is concealed from observa- 

 tion, he is a bird of the open country, and is very fond of a conspicuous 

 perch — a post, or the top of a small tree, wherever he can command a good 

 view and descry not only the approach of danger but also the chance of a 

 meal. In these positions he seems to balance himself, like the Magpie, 

 with his tail, which is never still. He is not a very noisy bird ; but now and 

 then his alarm-note may be heard, a sharp shake, shake. The song is 

 something like that of a Starling. Naumann gives the call-note as tniu. 



At Valconswaard this Shrike is in great request by the falconer. As the 

 Hawks are passing over on migration the Shrike, pinioned near the 

 falconer's net, attracts the attention of the birds of pre}^ by its cries, whicJi 

 are the signal for the falconer to display a decoy-pigeon and thus lure the 

 falcon into his net. 



When I was in Heligoland I was fortunate enough to see the Great 

 Grey Shrike in the act of migration. We were breakfasting on the 2nd of 

 October in a room looking out over the cliff towards the sea, and watched 

 one of these birds arrive. On the wing its black and white plumage made 

 it look like a small Magpie ; but its flight was more like that of a Wood- 



