346 LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE. 



over the eye, whitish ; wings, black, with a small spot of white 

 at the base of the primaries, and tipt with white ; a stripe of 



till it becomes putrescent ; but beneath 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, con- 

 sequently, 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-coloured 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 gentleman mentions once having the gratifi- 

 cation 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, appa- 

 rently occupied in selecting a thorn 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 and grating, and during the season of incubation be- 

 come 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 Fal- 

 conidce, 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 dyke, or, if in a wood, some decayed 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.* 



2. L. Ludovicianus, Bonap. — L. Carolinensis, Wils. vol. iii. p. 57 ; 

 found only in the warmer and more southern States, the Carolinas and 

 Georgia. 



3. Lanius excubitroides, Sw. Nov. spec. — American gray shrike, North. 

 Zool. vol. ii. p. 115. 



Specimens were brought to this country by the last Overland Arctic 



* When writing the note at page 73 of this volume, I was not aware that 

 Bonaparte had taken notice of the mistake mentioned there in his Appendix 

 to the Synopsis of North American Birds. — Ed. 



