76 
GREAT AMERICAN SHRIKE, OR BUTCHER BIRD. 
vol. iv. p. 124, the reader may find a long letter on this subject 
from Mr John Heckewelder, of Bethlehem, to Dr Barton; 
the substance of which is as follows: — That on the 17th of 
December, 1795, he (Mr Heckewelder) went to visit a young 
orchard which had been planted a few weeks before, and was 
surprised to observe on every one of the trees one, and on 
some two and three grasshoppers, stuck down on the sharp 
thorny branches ; that, on inquiring of his tenant the reason 
of this, he informed him, that they were stuck there by a 
small bird of prey, called, by the Germans, Neuntoedter , (Nine- ; 
killer,) which caught and stuck nine grasshoppers a-day; and | 
he supposed, that, as the bird itself never fed on grasshoppers, 
it must do it for pleasure. Mr Heckewelder now recollected, 
that one of those Nine-killers had, many years before, taken 
a favourite bird of his out of his cage at the window ; since 
which, he had paid particular attention to it; and being per- 
fectly satisfied that it lived entirely on mice and small birds, 
and, moreover, observing the grasshoppers on the trees all 
fixed in natural positions, as if alive, he began to conjecture 
that this was done to decoy such small birds as feed on these ] 
insects to the spot, that he might have an opportunity of 
devouring them. 6i If it were true,” says he, “ that this little 
hawk had stuck them up for himself, how long would he be 
in feeding on one or two hundred grasshoppers? But if it be 
intended to seduce the smaller birds to feed on these insects, 
in order to have an opportunity of catching them, that number, 
or even one -half, or less, may be a good bait all winter,” &c. 
This is, indeed, a very pretty fanciful theory, and would 
entitle our bird to the epithet fowler , perhaps with more 
propriety than lanius , or butcher ; but, notwithstanding the I 
attention which Mr Heckewelder professes to have paid to 
this bird, he appears not only to have been ignorant that 
grasshoppers were, in fact, the favourite food of this Nine- j 
killer, but never once to have considered, that grasshoppers > 
would be but a very insignificant and tasteless bait for our 
winter birds, which are chiefly those of the Finch kind, that 
