82 
LANIUS EXCUBITOR. 
former, he preys occasionally on other birds ; and, like 
the latter, on insects, particularly grasshoppers, which 
I believe to be his principal food ; having at almost all 
times, even in winter, found them in his stomach. In 
the month of December, and while the country was 
deeply covered with snow, I shot one of these birds near 
the head waters of the Mohawk river, in the State of 
New York, the stomach of which was entirely filled 
with large black spiders. He was of a much purer 
white, above, than any I have since met with ; though 
evidently of the same species with the present; and I 
think it probable that the males become lighter coloured 
as they advance in age, till the minute transverse lines 
of brown on the lower parts almost disappear. 
In his manners he has more resemblance to the pies 
than to birds of prey, particularly in the habit of 
carrying off his surplus food, as if to hoard it for 
future exigencies ; with this difference, that crows, 
jays, magpies, &c. conceal theirs at random, in holes 
and crevices, where, perhaps, it is forgotten, or never 
again found ; while the butcher-bird sticks his on thorns 
and bushes, where it shrivels in the sun, and soon 
becomes equally useless to the hoarder. Both retain 
the same habits in a state of confinement, whatever the 
food may be that is presented to them. 
This habit of the shrike of seizing and impaling 
grasshoppers and other insects on thorns, has given 
rise to an opinion, that he places these carcasses there 
by way of baits, to allure small birds to them, while he 
himself lies in ambush to surprise and destroy them. .. 
In this, however, they appear to allow him a greater 
portion of reason and contrivance than he seems entitled 
to, or than other circumstances will altogether warrant ; 
for we find, that he not only serves grasshoppers in this 
manner, but even small birds themselves, as those have 
assured me who have kept them in cages in this country, 
and amused themselves with their manoeuvres. If so, 
we might as well suppose the farmer to be inviting 
crows to his corn when he hangs up their carcasses- 
