FLUSHER. 



183 



a given space of time, when in pursuit of its quarry. But Colonel 

 Thornton, speaking- of the rapidity of the flight of a falcon in pursuit 

 of a snipe, estimates the space of nine miles in eleven minutes, inde- 

 pendent of the numerous turns ; and the force with which they strike, 

 in the utmost of their velocity, is so great, that the Colonel has known 

 a hawk belonging to him cut a snipe in two parts. 



The rapidity with which a hawk, and many other birds, occasionally 

 fly, is probably not less than at the rate of one hundred and fifty miles 

 an hour, when either pursued or pursuing-, and their powers fully ex- 

 erted ; and certainly one hundred miles is not beyond a fair computa- 

 tion for migratory continuance, not only of the hawk, but of the 

 woodcock, snipe, and other similar birds. The eider duck's usual 

 flight has been ascertained to be at the rate of ninety miles an hour, 

 as before stated in the history of that bird. 



Amongst quadrupeds, the horse is perhaps as fleet as any, and yet 

 the velocity falls very short of that of a bird ; the famous racer, Ham- 

 bletonian, covered a space of four miles in eight minutes, which is but 

 thirty miles in an hour, if it could be continued. Eclipse is said to 

 have gone at the rate of a mile in a minute for a very short dis- 

 tance. * 



FLUSHER (Lanius Collurio, Linnaeus.) 



Lanius Collurio, Linn. Syst. 1. p. 136. 12 — Gmel. Syst. p. 200. — Lath. Ind. Orn. 

 1. p. 69. 11. — Briss. 2. p. 151. sp. 4 — Lanius minor rufus, liaii, Syn.p. 18. A. 

 4. — Will. p. 54. — Merulae congener alia, Ruii, Syn. p. 67. 13 — Lanius spini 

 Torquens, Bechst. Naturg. Deut. 2. p. 1335. — La Pie grieche Ecorcheur, Buff. 

 Ois. 1. p. 304. t. 21.-76. pi. Enl. 31. f. 2. male, and fig. 1. female, under the 

 title of Pie Grieche rousse femelle. — Temm. Man. d'Orn. 1. p. 147. — Le Vaill. 



Ois. d'Afric. 2. pi. 64. f. 1 & 2 Rothriickeger Vurger, Meyer, Tasschenb. 



Deut. 1. p. 90.— Red-backed Shrike, Br. Zool. l.No. 72.— Arct. Zool. 2. No. 



131 Lewin's Br. Birds, 1. 1. 30 Lath. Syn. 1. p. 167. 25 — lb. Supp. 52 



Mont. Orn. Diet lb. Supp. — Pult. Cat. Dorset, p. 4 Bewick's Br. Birds, l.p. 



60— Shaw's Zool. 7. p. 315.— Selby, fig. 2. pi. 43. fig. 2. 3 Flem. Br. Anim. 



p. 62. 



Provincial. — Murdering Pie. Jack Baker. White Whiskey John.* 

 This species weighs eight drams ; length seven inches. Bill black ; 

 irides hazel ; the upper part of the head and neck and the rump of a 

 fine light grey ; the forehead is black, which extends in a streak through 

 the eyes; the back, scapulars, and coverts of the wings, ferruginous; quills 

 brown, slightly edged on the outer webs with a lighter colour ; from the 

 throat downwards of a blossom colour, palest about the vent ; the tail is 

 composed of twelve feathers, longest in the middle ; these are more or 

 less white at the base, black towards the end, and slightly tipped with 

 white, except those in the middle, which are wholly black ; the shafts 

 are black throughout, as also are the legs. 



The female weighs two drams more. The whole upper parts of a 



