i68 
Bt itish Birds : 
still left, flew back to the ir-iil, held the body over it, and when 
the body rested on the point pulled the bird downwards and 
forced the nail right through the body, after which it again had a 
feed, and then left it. Most truly does the Shrike deserve the 
name of the " Butcher-bird." It made me shudder to see the 
way in which it went to work, especially when it impaled its 
victim. 
I had watched the Shrike many times in the hope of seeing 
it throw up a pellet, and though I had spent many h.ours at 
different times for the purpose, I could not see what I anxiously 
watched for. But one day, about three hours after it had had a 
Greenfinch given to it, I hid myself at the side and watched it. 
It had eaten part of the bird, the rest was fixed on one of the 
nails read}' to be devoured b\' the Shrike when again hungr\'. 
(This points to their impaling their prey for the purpose of 
making a larder, as well as a means for more securely holding its 
food when having a meal. I found that the Shrike often fixed 
food that was large enough on the nail until it was again hungry.) 
After watching for about ten minutes, it opened its mouth (which 
has a very wide gape) as if to yawn, stretched out its neck, and 
brought up a pellet, which it threw out by a vigorous shake of 
its head. The pellet was thrown on to the wire front of the 
aviary, and fell to the wooden bottom, and sounded as if the 
pellet was even then quite hard. 
Everything that is given to the Shrike for food that 
requires pulling into smaller pieces, so as to be more easily 
swallowed, is impaled on one of the nails put there for that 
purpose. It hardly ever uses its strong feet for the purpose of 
holding its food when feeding, but I have at odd times seen it use 
its feet when it has bad such things as beetles, cockroaches, etc., 
which were too large and hard to swallow whole. 
Dlsgokging Pellets. I do not think it is generally 
known that Shrikes throw up pellets of the indigestible parts of 
the birds, mice, insects, etc., they devour. I cannot remember 
liaving seen it mentioned by any ornithological writer, but I find 
that pellets are thrown up, as at different times I have found a 
great number of them in cages and aviary in which the Shrikes 
have been kept, and have also observed them ejecting them on 
