1889.] 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



49 



A Bird Tragedy. 



By G. GRAY. 



Extracted from a paper on the Red-backed Shrike read at the Dover Field Club 

 and Natural History Society, January, 1889. 



One day towards the end of last June, I noticed a male shrike 

 (Lanius collurio), which by its actions led me to think that the hen bird 

 was nesting very near ; but after searching the hedgerow on both 

 sides in vain, I had to leave it as a failure for the time, which was 

 disappointing, as I much wanted to secure a family group ; and busi- 

 ness might prevent me returning to the spot before the young birds 

 had flown. However, fortune favoured me, and a few mornings after 

 behold me sitting on a grassy bank, in full view of the place where I 

 expected the nest to be. Having adjusted my field-glasses I scanned 

 the hedgerow with greedy eyes. Not a bird was to be seen ! Presently, 

 however, I heard the singing of a tree-pipit, and soon discovered one 

 perched upon a hedge-stake ; scarcely had I perceived it when, with 

 a sudden dash, a red-backed shrike or butcher bird passed, and as 

 quick as lightning struck it from its perch into the grass beneath, 

 whence I could hear it screaming and fluttering with its murderer. 

 After a minute or two I saw the butcher bird, as if in cruel mockery 

 mount with its prey, apparently now dead, upon the very stake he 

 had just knocked the pipit from. After rubbing the body about on 

 the top of the stake as if seeking to secure it by catching it upon a 

 thorn and of course without success, he flew with it to a bush a little 

 higher on the bank where there were some thick brambles interlacing 

 with the branches. By its motions it evidently was trying to fix the 

 body upon a thorn which was accomplished by continually drawing 

 it along a stem until at length it became entangled ; then, after looking 

 at its victim as if to make sure it was safe, it flew away. About five 

 minutes elapsed, and I was about to inspect his work, thinking that 

 perhaps the pipit had been killed for a supply for the larder in pros- 

 pective rather than for present need, when back he came ; this time 

 accompanied by the hen bird. She no doubt had been out upon the 

 same errand, to get food for the young, but the male had been more 

 successful. Both seemed to contemplate the pipit with satisfaction, 

 great satisfaction I might say, by their actions — flying about it and 

 almost dancing in their movements, in a manner I can only compare 

 to a couple of savages preparing for an orgie. Then seemingly a con- 



