6 SHRIKE. 



September;* said to breed in some of our mountains, and to make a 

 nest of heath and moss, lined with wool and gossamer; the eggs 

 five or six, the size of those of a thrush, dull olive green, spotted at 

 the larger end with black; in France more common than in Eng- 

 land ;f it feeds on insects and small birds, which it seizes by the 

 throat, and after strangling, fixes them on a sharp thorn, $ for the 

 more easily pulling them to pieces with the bill ; and if kept in a 

 cage will imitate this, by sticking the food against the wires of it ; in 

 Spring and Summer mocks the voice of other birds, by way of decoy- 

 ing them within reach ; and if a trapfall be baited with a living bird, 

 the shrike itself may be taken ; if kept in a cage, seems content, but 

 has no note or song whatever; in countries where most plentiful, these 

 birds are valued, on the supposition of their destroying rats, mice, 

 and other vermin ; and in Russia are often trained for catching small 

 birds; || hence M. Salerne calls it a Lanner of the smallest sort;§ is 

 supposed to live five or six years.^I 



This species is not uncommon about Gibraltar, at all seasons, as 

 well as in France, Italy, and Spain, and in the more northern parts 

 of the Continent of Europe ;** and not less frequent on the opposite 

 shore of Algiers, as well as on all the coast of Morocco ; is found, 

 with very little variation, in other parts of Africa, the Cape of Good 

 Hope, and in various places on the Coast of Coromandel, in India ; 

 differing principally in the tail, of which the two middle feathers are 

 black, and the others white. I have observed, too, a more striking 

 difference, in one having the scapulars next the wing, the lower part 

 of the rump, the belly, and vent pale rufous white; thighs, and all 



* Not always, as Col. Montagu instanced two males brought to him near the end of 

 November, 1790; and Dr. Lamb, of Newbury, a female, shot near Aldermaston, Jan. 6. 1795. 

 He also mentioned two others, one killed in November, the other in the December of the fol- 

 lowing year, and a third on January 10. 



f Is called by some the French-Pie. + Edw. v. 233. Br. Zool. 



|| Ediv. v. 231. § Salem. Orn. p. 28. f Olina. Uc. p.4. ** Rev. Mr. White. 



