LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE. 
345 
This species is nine inches long, and thirteen in extent; 
the colour above is cinereous, or dark ash ; scapulars and line 
Thrushes. They are, however, the “ Falcons of the insect world and among 
the Insessores will be the representatives of that group. 
America was seen to be the great country of the Tyranninee ; in like manner 
may the Shrikes claim Africa for their great birth place. They there wage 
incessant war on the numerous insect hosts, the larger species occasionally 
exercising their greater strength on some of the weaker individuals of the 
feathered race ; and by some gamekeepers that of this country is killed as a 
bird of prey, being found to destroy young birds, and even to drag the weak 
young pheasants through the bars of the breeding coops. Small animals and 
reptiles also form a part of their prey. They decrease in numbers as the 
colder and more temperate countries are approached ; and the vast extent of 
North America appears only to contain five species. New Holland alone is 
without any true Lanius, but is supplied by another genus, Falcunculus, allied 
in form, and now containing two species, which also unite somewhat of their 
habits, and feed on insects, though the mode of taking their prey shews some- 
thing scansorial. 
Among the Tyrants, the powers of flight are developed to a great extent, as 
suitable to the capture of the particular prey upon which they feed. In the 
Shrikes the form is considerably modified ; the wings become more rounded, 
and the tail graduated ; and the general prey is the larger insects of the orders 
Coleoptera and Hemiptera, to capture which does not require so great an exercise 
/of very quick or active powers, and which are often patiently watched for and 
pounced upon by surprise, in a similar manner to that described of the North 
American Loggerhead. 
They have all the character of being cruel and tyrannous, arising from 
the peculiar manner of impaling their prey upon thorns, or fastening it in 
the clefts of branches, often in a wanton manner, as if for the sake of 
murder only, thus fixing up all it can seize upon. One species is parti- 
cularly remarkable for the regular exhibition of this propensity, and has 
become proverbial for its cruelty, — Lanius collaris of Southern Africa. Its 
habits are thus described by Le Vaillant : — “ When it sees ( a locust, a mantis, 
or a small bird, it springs upon it, and immediately carries it off, in order to 
impale it on a thorn, which it does with great dexterity, always passing the 
thorn through the head of its victim. Every animal which it seizes is 
subjected to the same fate ; and it thus continues all day long its murderous 
career, apparently instigated rather by the love of mischief than the desire of 
food. Its throne of tyranny is usually a dry and elevated branch of a tree, from 
which it pounces on all intruders, driving off the stronger and more troublesome, 
and impaling the inexperienced alive ; when hungry, it visits its shambles, and 
helps itself to a savoury meal.” The Hottentots assured Le Vaillant that it 
