142 
FINDING NATURE'S TREASURES 
almost like a sharp tooth on that upper bill, too. That 
sharp hook and tooth help him to tear into pieces the 
mice and insects that he catches.” 
“I don't like the butcher bird,” said Marylee. 
“Watch him turn his head,” said Uncle Jack. “He 
sees something now.” 
Suddenly the butcher bird left the dead branch. He 
flew almost to the ground. Then he fluttered his wings 
fast, but he did not move through the air. He seemed 
to be looking for something on the ground. 
“He saw a grasshopper light on the ground there,” 
said Uncle Jack. “The grasshopper looks so much like 
the gray earth that the butcher bird cannot always see 
it easily.” 
“There, he sees it!” said Buddy, as the butcher bird 
dropped down on the ground. They saw him trying to 
catch something. Then he flew up with a grasshopper 
in his bill. He lit in a bush nearby and seemed to be 
doing something there. 
“Let's see what he is about,” said Buddy. “Let's slip 
up behind the bush and watch him.” 
“It is a thorn bush,” said Marylee, as they came closer 
to the butcher bird. 
“I see the grasshopper on that thorn up there,” said 
Buddy. “The butcher bird did not eat it. He must have 
hung it up.” 
“There are two other grasshoppers,” whispered Mary¬ 
lee,” and a beetle, too. This must be his regular butcher 
shop.” 
