226 LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE. 
This species is nine inches long, and thirteen in extent; the color 
above is cinereous, or dark ash; scapulars and line over the eye, 
liar manner of impaling their prey upon thorns, or fastenmg it in the clefts of 
branches, often in a wanton manner, as if for the sake of murder only, thus fixing 
up all it can seize upon. One species is particularly remarkable for the regular 
exhibition of this propensity, and has become proverbial for ils cruelty, — Lanius 
‘collaris of Southern Africa. Its habits are thus described by Le Vaillant: — 
“ When it sees a locust, a mantis, or a small bird, it springs upon it, and immedi- 
ately carries it off, in order to impale it ona thorn, which it does with great dex- 
terity, always passing the thorn through the head of its victim. Every animal which 
it seizes is subjected to the same fate; and it thus continues all day long its mur- 
derous career, apparently instigated rather by the love of mischief than the desire 
of food. Its throne of tyranny is usually a dry and elevated branch of a tree, fro: 
which it pounces on all itruders, driving off ‘the stronger and more troublesome, 
and impaling the inexperienced alive; when hungry, it visits its shambles, and 
helps itself to a savory meal.” The Hottentots assured Le Vaillant that it does 
not love fresh food, and therefore leaves its prey on the gibbet till it becomes 
putrescent; but beueath the scorching sun of Africa, the process of decomposition 
sometimes does not take place, from the rapid exhalation of the animal fluids in a 
warm and arid atmosphere, and, consequently, whatever spiny shrub may have been 
chosen by the Butcher Bird as the place of execution, is frequently found covered, 
not with sweet-smelling and many-colored blossoms, but with the dried carcasses 
of singing birds, and the bodies of locusts, and other insects of the larger size. 
The species of Great Britain, also, exercises this propensity ; but, according to Mr. 
Selby, it invariably kills its prey by strangulation before transfixing it. That gen- 
tleman mentions once having the gratification of witnessing this operation of the 
Shrike upon a Hedge Accentor, which it had just killed. ‘In this instance, after 
killing the bird, it hovered, with its prey in its bill, for a short time over the hedge, 
apparently occupied in selecting a thors fit for its purpose. Upon disturbing it, and 
advancing to the spot, I found the Accentor firmly fixed by the tendons of the wing 
at the selected twig.” When in confinement, -this peculiarity is also displayed, in 
placing the food against or between the wires of the cage. They frequent woody 
countries, with occasional shrubs and hedges, among which they also breed ; the 
notes, as might be expected, are hoarse an grating, and during the season of incu- 
bation become very garrulous, particularly when alarmed ; they are very attentive 
to their young, and continue long to feed and attend them after they are able to 
shift for themselves. It may be here remarked that the Falconide, which our 
present knowledge leads us to think is represented by this group, always take their 
prey to some eminence before commencing to devour it—a bare hillock or rock in 
an open country; the top of some old mound or dike, or, if in a wood, some de- 
eayed stump; and I have known one spot of frequent recurrence by the same 
individuals ; thus showing some analogy to each other. ; 
The following seem to be the species which are known to belong to North 
America: — ; ‘ 
1. L. borealis, Vieill. — L. excubitor, Wils. Vol. i. p.'74, L. borealis, Bonap. 
Synop. App.* or. 
2. L. ludovicianus, Bonap. — L. Carolinensis, Wils. Vol. iii. p. 57; found only in 
the warmer and more southern states, the Carolinas and Georgia. 
~ Lanius excubitroides, Sw. Nov. spec.— American Gray Shrike, North. Zool. 
ol. ji, p. 115. . ; 3 
Socal mans were brought to this country by the last over-land arctic expedition. 
According to Dr. Richardson, it is amore northern bird than L. borealis, and does 
not advance farther north in summer than the 54° of latitude, and it attains that 
parallel only in the meridian of the warm and sandy plains of the Saskatchewan, 
which enjoy an earlier spring, and longer summer, than the densely-wooded coun- 
try betwixt them and Hudson’s Bay. Its manners are precisely similar to 
those of L. borealis, feeding chiefly on grasshoppers, which are- exceedingly 
* When writing the note at page 49, I was not aware that Bonaparte-had taken notice 
of the miblake mentioned there in his Appendix to thé Synopsis of North American 
Birds — Ep. 
