164 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 
practice of impaling their food upon thorns or the like, thus 
securing, according to an European superstition, nine victims 
every day, whence they are in some places called ‘ nine-kill- 
ers.” There are three theories often advanced to explain this 
extraordinary and characteristic cruelty, which are as follows: 
That the shrikes are fond of tainted meat; that they are nat- 
urally provident for the future; and that they employ their 
food, to a certain extent, as bait. The former of these theo- 
ries may be refuted by the evidence, which has, I believe, been 
generally given, even from observations upon specimens in 
confinement, that the ‘‘Butcher-birds” never feed upon these 
stores. The last theory is absurd, as Wilson has already de- 
monstrated, since they can at any time, by swiftness and dex- 
terity of flight, seize a small bird who ventures near them, 
and need never resort to guile or deceit, and since, if grass- 
hoppers be the creatures impaled, our winter-birds, upon whom 
the shrikes prey, are all granivorous or seed-eating, never 
touching insects (except, perhaps, in summer), and since in 
many cases the victims impaled are birds, who certainly would 
not serve satisfactorily as bait to attract their friends. I re- 
gret very much that I have not had enough opportunities for 
studying thoroughly the habits of the ‘‘ Butcher-birds” to de- 
cide this question, but, in want of evidence, I am inclined 
to suppose that they keep up this murderous practice solely 
from instincts of cruelty, and perhaps other instincts, allied to 
the thieving and hiding propensities of the magpies and their’ 
relations, though, indeed, their acts are murder in the first 
degree and without secrecy. In brief, is it not probable that 
they exercise this barbarity and ferocity simply in sport, and 
for their amusement? I cannot, at present, present to the 
public any more satisfactory explanation. 
(a). Audubon and Nuttall both state that the Great North- 
ern Shrikes imitate the notes of other birds to attract their 
attention and to allure them into danger, but I have known no 
modern ornithologists to confirm these statements, which at 
present need corroboration. Whilst here in winter, the Shrikes 
are usually silent, and I have but once heard them uttering 
