THE SHEIKE, OR BUTCHER BIRD. 
95 
habits in a state of confinement whatever the food may be 
that is presented to them. 
This habit of the shrike of seizing and impahng grass- 
hoppers and other insects on thorns, has given rise to an 
opinion, that he places these carcasses there by way of baits, 
to allure small birds to them, while he himself lies in ambush 
to surprise and destroy them. In this, however, they appear 
to allow him a greater portion of reason and contrivance 
than he seems entitled to, or than other circum^stances will 
altogether warrant ; for we find that he not only serves grass- 
hoppers in this manner, but even small birds themselves, as 
those have assured me who have kept them in cages in this 
country, and amused themselves with their manoeuvres. If 
so, we might as well suppose the farmer to be inviting crows 
to his corn when he hangs up their carcasses around it, as 
the butcher bird to be decoying small birds by a display of 
the dead bodies of their comrades !" 
Wilson also says in speaking of this bird generally — 
" The character of the butcher bird is entitled to no com- 
mon degree of respect. His activity is visible in all his mo- 
tions ; his courage and intrepidity beyond every other bird 
of his size (one of his own tribe only excepted, L. tyrannus, 
or king-bird ;) and in affection for his young, he is surpassed 
by no other. He associates with them in the latter part of 
summer, the whole family hunting in company. He attacks 
the largest hawk or eagle in their defence, with a resolution 
truly astonishing : so that all of them respect them, and on 
every occasion decline the contest. As the snows of winter 
approach, he descends from the mountainous forests, and 
from the regions of the north, to the more cultivated parts 
of the country, hovering about our hedgerows, orchards and 
meadows, and disappears again early in April." 
It loves best, and is most usually found to frequent the 
wild, rocky and somewhat sterile commons of waste land, 
which are the favorite localities of its especial prey, different 
varieties of the lizard, grasshopper, and smaller finches. It 
