132 
THE GREAT AMERICAN SHRIKE. 
Turtle Dove, which, on being nearly caught, pitched on the ground, where 
its skull was bruised in a moment ; but the next instant both birds were in 
my possession. 
The courage, activity, and perseverance of this species, are quite sur- 
prising. In winter, when insects are scarce, and small birds rare in the 
Eastern States, I have known it to enter the cities and attack birds in cages. 
During my stay at Boston, several of them were brought to me, that had 
been caught in the apartments in which cages containing Canaries were kept, 
and in evei’y instance after the little favourite had been massacred. Near 
the same city I observed an individual poised on wing, in the manner of our 
Sparrow Hawk, for several minutes at a time, over the withered grass and 
sedges of salt water meadows, when it suddenly pounced on some small bird 
concealed there. 
Although its feet are small and apparently weak, its claws are sharp, and 
it is capable of inflicting a pretty severe wound on the finger or hand, It 
bites with great pertinacity, and will seldom let go its hold unless its throat 
is squeezed. 
Its flight is strong, swift, and sustained : it moves through the air in long 
undulations which have each an extent of twenty or thirty yards, but it 
seldom rises very high, unless for the purpose of obtaining a good point of 
observation, and in its usual flight merely passes over the tops of the low 
bushes rapidly and in silence, in starts of from fifty to a hundred yards. I 
never saw one walk or move on the ground. 
They are extremely fond of crickets and grasshoppers, as well as other 
kinds of insects, and they feed on the flesh of birds whenever they can pro- 
cure it. The individuals which I have kept in cages, appeared well pleased 
with pieces of fresh beef, but they generally remained dull and sullen until 
they died. As it was only during winter that I had them in confinement, 
when no coleopterous insects could be procured, I had no opportunity of 
observing if, like Hawks, they have the power of throwing up hard particles 
of the food which they swallow, although I should suppose this to be the case. 
Their propensity to impale insects and small birds on the sharp points of 
twigs and on thorns, which they so frequently do at all seasons of the year, 
is quite a mystery to me, as I cannot conceive what its object may be. 
I have represented three of these birds of different sexes and ages, and 
therefore differing in colour and size. 
Great American Shrike or Butcher-bird, Lanius Excubito r, Wils. Amer., Orn., 
vol. i. p. 74. 
Lanius septentrionalis, Bonap. Syn., p. 72. 
Lanius borealis, Great Northern Shrike , Swains, and Rith. F. Bor. Amer. voL ii. 
p. 111. 
