175 
Sonnini says that "the; appetite which this 
bird possesses for insects, leads him to use 
precautions that he may not be disappointed 
of his favourite food ; and this foresight sup- 
poses combinations which denote a great 
sagacity of instinct. The insects appear only 
at stated periods, and some species, particu- 
larly the larger ones, only appearing during 
a very short time, the Buteher-bird would 
often be exposed to the pains of hunger if it 
did not form a sort of magazine, where it finds, 
upon necessity, resources which secure it from 
inevitable distress, but for these means. It is 
not in the holes of trees nor in the earth that 
it deposits these provisions, which are of such 
a nature that they would soon corrupt if kept 
in a close place. It is in the open air that 
the Butcher-bird arranges them here and 
there; it sticks its superfluous prey upon the 
thorns of bushes, and it knows where to find 
it when in want of it." 
We should rather suppose that this instinc- 
tive stratagem was given to the bird by an 
all-wise Providence for its preservation, by 
decoying the smaller birds, which feed on in- 
sects, into a situation from whence it may 
