NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 363 
from Mr. Eobert Embleton, of Chatliill, Northumberland, a most 
valuable specimen of the nest of the marine stickleback, which 
has been drawn by Mr. Delamotte. The late Mr. Jonathan 
Couch thus describes a stickleback's nest which came under his 
own observation : — " The situation selected by the fish was the 
loose end of a rope, from which the strands hung at about a yard 
from the surface, over a depth of four or five fathoms, and 
to which the material could only have been brought, of course, 
in the mouth of the fish from the distance of about thirty 
feet. They were formed of the usual aggregation of the finer 
sorts of green and red ore-weed ; but they were so matted 
together in the hollow formed by the untwisted strands of 
the rope, that the mass constituted an oblong ball of nearly 
the size of the fist, in which had been deposited the scattered 
assemblages of spawn, and which was bound into shape with 
the thread of animal substance, which was passed through 
and through in various directions, while the rope itself formed 
an outside covering to the whole." The threads formed by the 
stickleback resemble very much an iiKliarubber band, only 
they are of a white colour. human being knows how 
these threads are formed by this interesting nest-building fish. 
Butcher-bird, p. 63. — The butcher-bird, or shrike, arrives at 
the end of April, and remains to the end of August. It preys 
upon beetles, birds, and especially willow-wrens and chiff-chaffs, 
both young and old, and any young birds from nests. The young 
of the butcher-bird never comes to its full plumage till it arrives 
the following season. The young are streaky grey. This bird 
is very common close round London and all over England ; it 
has a quick jerking call, " lack, lack." He is a wonderful 
plucky bird, and will take the "brace birds''^ off the ''flur 
sticks " of the bird-catchers. They are easy to keep ; they feed 
on brains of birds, always attacking the bird's skull first ; they 
become wonderfully tame, but are only kept for the sake of 
curiosity. The great grey shrike comes in winter from Norway 
and Sweden ; it arrives in October and returns in the spring. 
It is rare ; Mr. Davy never had above two in one season. 
When " hard pushed " the shrike will take almost any bird. 
It is a wonderful punisher, and has great power in its beak. 
The bird generally fixes its dinner on a thorn to hold it while 
he picks at it. When in a cage he fixes his prey betw^een 
the bars. 
" The red-backed shrike (L. collnrio) is a somewhat local bird, 
and visits us in summer ; it is more common in the east than 
' See next pnge. 
