190 
SHRIKES. 
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 chain of innumerable uninterrupted links, visible 
to us only in the intermediate portions, and each at- 
testing the wisdom and power of its great Contriver. 
Thus, in the subject under our immediate consider- 
ation, we find, that from the gigantic Condor, or 
great Yulture of the Alps, to the small Humming- 
bird, not exceeding in size an humble-bee, there is a 
regular scale ; that one class and family slides im- 
perceptibly 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- 
numerous families which remain for consideration. 
This link consists of a small but interesting division, 
called the Shrikes. (Table VII., see page 13.) As 
many of them live chiefly, if not entirely, on beetles, 
grasshoppers, &c., they have been considered as the 
Falcons of the insect world, pursuing and destroying 
vast numbers of those countless multitudes that 
swarm in hot climates ; and have also been named 
Butcher-birds, from a fierceness and cruelty of dis- 
position, which seems to lead them to kill and slay 
from mere wantonness, together with a singular 
habit of impaling their victims on thorns or cleft 
branches, where they are left. 
In this savage character they resemble the birds 
