GREAT AMERICAN SHRIKE, OR BUTCHER BIRD. 
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feed almost exclusively on Lard seeds and gravel ; and among 
whom five hundred grasshoppers might be stuck up on trees 
and bushes, and remain there untouched by any of them for 
ever. Besides, where is his necessity of having recourse to 
such refined stratagems, when he can, at any time, seize upon 
small birds by mere force of flight ? I have seen him, in an 
open field, dart after one of our small Sparrows with the rapi- 
dity of an arrow, and kill it almost instantly. Mr William 
Bartram long ago informed me, that one of these Shrikes had 
the temerity to pursue a Snow Bird (F. Hudsonia) into an 
open cage, which stood in the garden ; and, before they could 
arrive to its assistance, had already strangled and scalped it, 
though he lost his liberty by the exploit. In short, I am of 
opinion, that his resolution and activity are amply sufficient to 
enable him to procure these small birds whenever he wants 
them, which, I believe, is never but when hard pressed by 
necessity, and a deficiency of his favourite insects ; and that 
the Crow or the Blue Jay may, with the same probability, be 
supposed to be laying baits for mice and flying squirrels, 
when they are hoarding their Indian corn, as he for birds, 
while thus disposing of the exuberance of his favourite food. 
Both the former and the latter retain the same habits in a state 
of confinement; the one filling every seam and chink of his 
cage with grain, crumbs of bread, &c. and the other sticking 
up, not only insects, but flesh, and the bodies of such birds as 
are thrown in to him, on nails or sharpened sticks fixed up 
for the purpose. Nor, say others, is this practice of the Shrike 
difficult to be accounted for. Nature has given to this bird a 
strong, sharp, and powerful beak, a broad head, and great 
strength in the muscles of his neck ; but his legs, feet, and 
claws are, by no means, proportionably strong ; and are 
unequal to the task of grasping and tearing his prey, like 
those of the Owl and Falcon kind. He, therefore, wisely avails 
himself of the powers of the former, both in strangling his 
prey, and in tearing it to pieces while feeding. 
The character of the Butcher Bird is entitled to no common 
