BRITISH BIRDS. 
59 
black ; the legs are black. The female differs 
little from the male ; it lays fix eggs, of a dull o- 
live green, fpotted at the end with black. Our fi- 
gure and defcription were taken from a very fine 
fpecimen, fent us by Lieut. H. F. Gibfon, of the 
4th dragoons : It is rarely found in the cultivated 
parts of the country, preferring the mountainous 
wilds, among furz and thorny thickets, for its refi- 
dence. M. Buffon fays it is common in France, 
where it continues all the year: It is met with 
likewife in Ruffia, and various parts of Europe ; it 
preys on fmall birds, which it feizes by the throat, 
and, after firangling, fixes them on a fharp thorn, 
and tears them in pieces with its bill. Mr Pen- 
nant obferves, that, when kept in the cage, it flicks 
its food againfl the wires before it will eat it. It 
is faid to imitate the notes of the fmaller fmging 
birds, thereby drawing them near its haunts, in or- 
der more fecurely to feize them. 
