THE GREAT, OR ASH-COLOCRED SHRIKE. 57 
fish, and smash their strong defence by falling on 
the rocks beneath. Le Vaillant says this process 
of impalement is performed in the wilds of South 
Africa, and remarks, that the spine or thorn was 
always thrust through the head of the bird or 
insect, and that the prey was not devoured at the 
time of capture, but allowed to hang on the 
branches and shrubs, and was returned to appa- 
rently when the calls of hunger demanded. * Mr 
Selby, also, had the satisfaction of seeing our 
native grey Shrike impale its victim, after hovering 
over the hedge with the bird (a hedge accentor) 
in its bill, apparently for the purpose of selecting 
a convenient thorn. f 
The common Grey Shrike is perfectly typical in 
its form, and will rank among the larger species 
of the genus. In length it is about nine inches, 
appearing more graceful from the graduated form 
of the tail, though it is in reality a firmly and com- 
pactly made bird. In the old male, the upper 
parts are of a chaste and clear pearl grey, while 
the whole of the under parts are pure white ; these 
tints are beautifully broken and contrasted, by the 
deep black of the greater portion of the wings and 
tail, and by the marking of the same colour which 
appears on the forehead, the lores, and on the auri- 
culars, on the latter there is an oval patch resembling 
in form and situation the distribution of the darker 
shades on these parts of the falconidae. The wings 
* Le Vaill. Ois. d’Afrique, ii. p. 22. 
f Selby, Br. Ornith. i. p. 149. 
