214 GREAT SHRIKE. .Ctass If 
very thick and ftrong; which makes the head very 
large. This apparatus is quite requifite in a fpe- 
_Mawners. cies whofe method of killing its prey is fo fingular, 
and whofe manner of devouring it is not lefs extra- 
ordinary: fmall birds it will feize by the throat, 
and ftrangle*; which probably is the reafon the 
Germans call this bird Wurchangel +, or the fuffo-. 
cating angel. It feeds on {mall birds, young neft- 
lings, beetles and caterpillars. When it has killed 
the prey, it fixes them on fome thorn, and when 
thus {pitted pulls them to pieces with its bill: on 
this account the Germans call it Thornirder and 
Thornfreker. We have feen them, when confined 
in a cage, treat their food in much the fame man— 
ner, fticking it againft the wires before they would 
devour it. Mr. Edwards very juftly imagines that 
as nature has not given thefe birds ftreneth fuffici- 
ent to tear their prey to pieces with their feet, as 
the hawks do, they are obliged to have recourfe 
to this artifice. 
It makes its neft with heath and mofs, lining 
it with wool and goflamer; and lays fix eges, of 
a dull olive green, fpotted at the thickeft end with 
black. 
DescriP. The crown of the head, the back, and the co-* 
verts that lie immediately on the joints of the 
wings are afh-colored ; the reft of the coverts black : 
the quil feathers are black, marked in their middle 
* Edw. Gi. Il. 233. + Wil. orn. 87. 
with 
a 
