158 
SHRIKES. 
but in the crenirostral tribe tbe beak is, generally speaking, 
of a very different character, though in some cases there is a 
resemblance. In fact, the more we examine the arrange- 
ments of nature in its orders of created . beings, whether in 
animals, birds, fishes, or insects, the more shall we be struck 
with the beautiful connexion between the several classes into 
which they are divided, and the utter impossibility of drawing 
up rules which shall, without exceptions, accurately define 
the marks of distinction. The works of God, in short, 
whether in the animal, vegetable, or mineral world, may be 
likened to 
The letting down a golden chain from high ; 
a cha ! n of innumerable uninterrupted links, visible to us only 
in the intermediate portions, and each attesting the wisdom 
and power of its great Contriver. Thus, in the subject under 
our immediate consideration, we find that from the gigantic 
Condor or great Yulture of the Alps, to the small Humming 
bird, not exceeding in size a humble bee, there is a regular 
scale ; that one class and family slides imperceptibly into 
another, till the most intelligent naturalist feels himself at a 
loss to define accurately where the one ends and the other 
. begins. Of this we have an example in the link connecting 
the Eagle, Hawk, and Owl tribes with the first of the nu- 
merous families which remain for consideration. This link 
consists of a small but interesting division, called the Shrikes. 
(Table VII., see page 
12.) As many of 
them live chiefly, if 
not entirely, on bee- 
tles, grasshoppers, 
&c., they have been 
considered as the 
E alcons of the insect 
world, pursuing and 
destroying vast num- 
bers of those count- 
Shrike. less multitudes that 
