56 



BIRDS AND FLOWERS. 



acre, more or less, of English sparrows which spend 

 their time fighting and carousing under our windows, 

 and driving off their betters, the native birds; and 

 nothing would give me greater pleasure than to see 

 the pirate butcher-bird sail into these little gutter- 

 snipes. 



The shrike has been compared to the robin in size, 

 but although they are about the same length, ten 

 inches, their build is entirely different. The robin is 

 a bird of portly, aldermanic protuberance while the 

 shrike is lean and muscular, in good fighting trim. He 

 is a decidedly handsome bird, blue-gray above and 

 white below, with black, white-blotched wings and tail 

 and black velvet markings about the eye. The shrike 

 is not in the least bashful. In fact, he is the only bird 

 I have ever met who will stare you out of countenance. 

 He impresses me with a certain sense of majesty and 

 power as does the bald eagle, and I am not certain but 

 he is quite as good a citizen. Nature made them both 

 cannibals, doubtless for some good purpose. 



To return to the English sparrow: If there is 

 any created thing that does not need encouragement 

 or protection, it is this foreign bully. He is capable 

 of taking care of himself and as certain to propagate 

 his species as is the potato bug or brown-tailed moth. 



