181 
PART IV.-NATURAL HISTORY. 
REVIEWS AND EXTRACTS. 
1.—Montagu’s Ornithological Dictionary of British Birds. 
By James Rennie, x4. M., A. L. S., Professor of Natural History 
ill the London University. 8vo. Tl. H. 
So far as we have seen of this Work, it appears one of considerable merit, it 
contains the fullest and most pleasing’ accounts of our British Birds, that has 
hitherto appeared;—the Editor has described their characters, habits, &.c. with 
great minuteness and accuracy ; but as we have taken only a cursory view, 
we forbear to say anything further this month, as we certainly cannot find 
space to insert our views and opinions, in so copious a manner as such a 
work deserves. We shall only, therefore, extract the following account of 
the Butcher-Bird, {Lanins exculitor,) and reserve our remarks for a future 
number. 
“The Great Cinereous Shrike, or Butcher-Bird, is rather a scarce bird in 
England. It is said to breed in some of our mountainous situations, coming in 
May, and departing in September. However this may be in general, the only two 
which came under our inspection were both males ; one was killed on the fifteenth, 
and the other on the twenty-second of November, in Wiltshire. 
“By most of the British Ornithologists, says Selby, it is mentioned as arriving 
in the spring, and departing in the autumn; which would imply that it breeds 
in this country, and is a regular periodical visitant. From this view of its habits 
I must be permitted to dissent; all the specimens that have come under my obser¬ 
vation, have been killed in the months of November, December, and January, nor 
have I ever heard of an individual during the summer months. It is a solitary 
bird, beijig most frequently found single, though I have more than once met with 
a mule and female tog-ether. 
“This bird is sometimes trained for catching small birds in Russia. It is said to 
kill rats and mice, and is valued in some countries for that property. When it has 
killed its prey, which consists of small bii'ds, insects, and the smaller class of 
animals, it does not tear it like the hawk, but fixes it to a thorn, and then tears it 
to pieces with its bill. Selby thus describes the singular manner in which this 
bird devours its prey. ‘ It had just killed a hedge-sparrow, {Accentor ynodularisy) 
the skin of which, still attached to the thorn, is now in my possession ; after killing 
the bird, it hovered for a short time with the prey in its bill, over the hedge, appa¬ 
rently occupied in selecting a thorn fit for the purpose; upon disturbing it, and 
advancing to the spot, I found the accentor firmly fixed by the tendon of the wing 
to the selected twig.’ When confined in a cage, this bird still evinces the same 
propensity for fixing its food, and if a sharp-pointed thorn or stick is not left for that 
purpose, it will invariably fasten it to the wires, before commencing its repast. 
Selby found in the stomach of one of these birds, the remains of a mouse; and 
Montagu found in another, those of a shrew, {Sorex arenarius, Linn.) 
“‘I could never observe,’says Mr. Knapp,‘that this bird destroyed others 
smaller than itself, or even fed upon flesh. I have hung up dead young birds, and 
even parts of them, near their nests; but never found that they were touched by 
