300 
OUK HOME BIRDS. 
or tree. Various reasons have been given for this 
strange habit of the butcher-bird ; some people think 
it is only the usual custom of birds of prey, who are 
in the habit of carrying off surplus food and storing 
it for future need, while crows, jays, magpies, and 
others hide theirs at random in holes and crevices, 
where they forget it or never find it again; but 
the shrike sticks his on thorns and bushes, where it 
shrivels in the sun and becomes as useless as if lost. 
“ The Germans called this bird ‘ nine-killer/ because 
they believed that it killed and stuck just nine grass- 
hoppers a day, and that it did this simply for the 
pleasure of it, without caring to eat the insects. But 
it has been proved that it does eat them, and also 
quantities of large black spiders. 
“As the snows of winter approach, the butcher- 
bird comes down from the mountainous* forests to the 
more cultivated parts of the country, and disappears 
again early in April. In the deepest forests he builds 
a large, compact nest in the upright fork of a small 
tree, using grass and whitish moss for the outside, 
and lining it warmly with feathers. There are six 
brownish eggs, marked at the large end with spots 
and streaks of red. 
“ The cross-bill (Fig. 25) is another curious winter 
bird, and it looks in the picture as though it were 
