GEEAT GEEY SHRIKE. 



LANIUS EXCUBITOR, Linn. 



Laiiius excubitor, Linn. S. N. i. p. 135 (1766) ; Naiim. ii. 

 p. 7; Macg. iii. p. 492; Hewitson, i. p. 69; Yarr. ed. 4, 

 i. p. 199; Dresser, iii. p. 375. 



Pie Grieche grise, French ; Grosse Wiirger, German ; 

 Alcaudon, Spanish. 



An irregular and not very common winter visitor to 

 our islands. Several circumstantial accounts of its 

 breeding in England have been published, but have, on 

 critical inquiry, been discovered to lack authentic foun- 

 dation ; this is somewhat remarkable, as the bird breeds 

 not uncommonly in Holland, Belgium, and Rhenish 

 Prussia. 



The singular habit of the Shrikes of fixing their prey 

 (which, for the most part, consists of beetles, small birds, 

 mice, earthworms, and lizards) on thorns is well known ; 

 it is, perhaps, not so generally well known that, although 

 these birds are most ravenous feeders, they consume but 

 very little at each meal. I have kept many of this 

 species in confinement, and used them with some success 

 as sentinels in Hawk-catching. The present species has 

 a low, but by no means an unpleasant, song. 



