THE BUTCHER-BIRDS OR SHRIKES 
TS IT not curious that among our so-called 
song birds there should be two, about 
the size of robins, the loggerhead and the 
northern shrike, with the hawk-like habit of 
killing little birds and mice, and the squirrel’s 
and blue jay’s trick of storing what they cannot 
eat? They are butchers, with the thrifty 
custom of hanging up their meat, which only 
improves in flavour and tenderness after a day 
or two of curing. Then, even if storms should 
drive their little prey to shelter and snow should 
cover the fields, they need not worry nor starve 
seeing an abundance in their larder provided 
for the proverbial rainy day. 
In the Southern and Middle States, where the 
smaller loggerhead shrike is most common, 
some children say he looks like a mockingbird ; 
but the feathers on his back are surely quite a 
different gray, a light-bluish ash, and pearly on 
his under parts, with white in his black wings 
and tail which is conspicuous as he flies. His 
powerful head, which is large for his size, has a 
heavy black line running from the end of his 
mouth across his cheek, and his strong bill has a 
hook on the end which is useful in tearing the 
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