NORTHERN SHRIKE 



THE BUTCHER BIRD 



{Fig. 56) 



HE author of the "Just So" stories 

 might change my heading of 

 "Northern Shrike" to "The Spar- 

 row that Tried to Become a 

 Hawk." Here is a bird which was 

 born in the group of Passeres 

 {Passer — ^A Sparrow) or Perching Birds; who is a 

 relative of the gentle Red-eyed Vireo (sometimes 

 called Preacher) , but who shows such astonishingly 

 bloodthirsty habits that he is commonly known as 

 the Butcher-bird No larger than a Grosbeak, with 

 a feather-suit cut on much the same pattern, and with 

 feet fitted for perching (not tearing) , only his strong, 

 hooked bill shows any approach to the structure of 

 a Hawk. 



But if he could not make his form hawk-like, he 

 has done his best to make his habits so. Unsociable 

 in disposition, he seems to avoid the company even 



of his own kind, and the only interest he shows in 



112 



