THE RED-BACKED SHRIKE. 277 



prey. It is a very Hawk by nature, capturing 

 and killing mice, small birds, moths and beetles 

 of every size and description. These when 

 caught are firmly impaled upon the long and 

 strong points of the whitethorn for future con- 

 sumption, and the odds and ends which may be 

 found thus hung up, as it were, in the Butcher- 

 bird's larder are worth notice. On one thorn, 

 perchance, a Blue Titmouse with its head off, 

 on another a small meadow mouse {Arvicola 

 agrestis), or perhaps a harvest mouse [Mus 

 messorius), on a third a great dor-beetle or a 

 cockchafer, not yet dead, but buzzing round 

 and round upon the sharp thorn, and trying in 

 vain to effect its escape, while above, below, 

 and on all sides may be seen the wingless 

 bodies of large moths, the fluttering forms of 

 dragon-flies, or the remains of beetles. 



From this singular habit the bird has earned 

 the name of Butcher-bird, not only in Eng- 

 land but in other countries. In France it 

 is termed r^corcheur, the flayer ; in Germany 

 it is known as der Wilrger (the strangler, or 



