INSECTIVOROUS BIRDS.
Bill middle sized, or short, straight, rounded, faintly sharp-pointed, or awl-shaped, upper mandible curved and notched at the point, most frequently furnished at the base with some rough hairs, pointing forwards ; feet with three toes before and one behind, articulated on the same level.
The voice of these birds is distinguished by its har mony and cadence; most of them chiefly subsist on in sects, especially during the breeding season, but many of them ha% c likewise recourse to berries. They have usu ally more than one brood in the year; they inhabit the woods, bushes, or reeds, in which they build solitary nests.
LAxtus, Lin. &c. SHRIKE, or Bill middle-sized, robust, straight from its origin, and much compressed ; upper mandible strongly compressed towards the tip, which is hooked, the base destitute of a core, and furnished with rough hairs, pointing forwards; nostrils basal, lateral, almost round, half closed by an arch ed membrane, and often partly concealed by hairs; tarsus longer than the middle toe.
Most of the birds of this family are so remarkable for their courage and voracity, that they have by many been classed in the Predacious Order ; but their claws, their voice, their diet, residence, &c. more strictly assimilate them to the thrushes, and the other tribes of the present division. They have been called butcher-birds, from their habit of killing several victims before they begin to feed. They live in families, fly unsteadily and precipitately, and utter shrill cries. They nestle on trees, with great atten tion to cleanliness, and are tenderly careful of their young.
L. excubitor, Lin. Sec. Great Cinereoits Shrike, Grey Shrike, or Greater Butcher-Bird. Prov. Shriek, Shrike, ?.Iattages, iVierangle, Xight-jar, Murdering Bird, Mur dering Pic, Mountain Pie, French Pie, Ste. In some parts of America it is denominated the Xine-killer, and in others, ll'hite firhisky Johiz. Grey above, white beneath, wings wedge-shaped, tail and stripe across the eyes black, side tail feathers white. The bill is black, strong, and much h •oked at the end; the irides are dusky, and the mouth is beset with strong bristles ; the tail consists of twelve feathers of unequal length ; and the legs are black. Weight rather more than two ounces, length from nine to ten inches, and extent of wing about fourteen inches. The female has nearly the same dimensions as the male, with lighter shadings above, and dirty white, with nurnc mus semicircular brown lines beneath. A variety occurs that is almost entirely white, and others are more or less so.
The Greater Butcher Bird is a native of several coun tries in Europe and North America ; it is particularly common in Russia ; but there is reason to suspect that it is only an accidental visitant of this island. In France it remains all the year, haunting the woods in summer, and frequenting the plains, and even approaching human ha bitations in winter. In the month of May, it places its nest sometimes in the branchings or forkings of detached trees, and sometimes in prickly hedges or thickets, form ing the frame work of small twigs, which it twists and in terweaves with fibrous roots and moss, and lines with a profusion of feathers, down, wool, or gossamer, the whole so neatly arranged and compacted as scarcely to be affect ed by wind or rain. The eggs, which vary in number
from four to eight, are probably not uniform in their mark ings; for Pennant represents them as of a dull olive green, spotted at the large end with black, while Latham says they are of a dull white, with dusky spots at the large end. Vicillot describes them as of a grey-white, spotted with pale olive-green, and cinercous. Gerardin asserts that they are white, spotted with dirty brown over most of the shell, but with black at the broad end ; and Temminck states that they are white, with spots of a dirty brown. As the young are brought forth without down, the soft and warm casing of the nest supplies the want of it. The parents besides manifest the most tender solicitude for their welfare, feeding them with insects, and affectionately associating with them till the following spring. During autumn and winter, they may be observed flying about in little domestic parties, which never commingle. They ma) be distinguished by their shrill cry—troole, troole which is heard at a considerable distance, and which they incessantly repeat when perched on the top of trees, or flying. The latter motion is performed neither obliquely nor on the same level, but always up and down, by suc cessive jerks and vibrations. They perch on the very ex tremity of the highest and most insulated branches, a position naturally suggested by their mode of catching their prey, because, as from the shortness of their wings, they fly with difficulty, it was of importance that they should be able to dart down, at once, and with force, on their destined victims, and compel them to take to the ground, when they are quickly dispatched by a violent compressure of the neck. Hence the Germans call the shrikes Suffocating Angels. When perched, and spying their prey, they constantly raise and depress the tail. Af ter killing a bird, or large insect, they affix the carcass to some sharp thorn, in order possibly to devour it more rea dily and more at leisure; for these birds want the strength of the hawk to retain their quarry in their claws, and pull it with their bill. In dispatching a bird, they usually be gin by opening the skull, and regaling on the brains. They are partial to field mice and chafers, without ever injuring the crops, and should therefore be protected by the farm ers. They likewise spit the larger insects on thorns, be fore devouring them, reserving them, according to some, as store in case of need, and using them, according to others, as a decoy to the insectivorous birds. The two purposes are not incompatible; but, from M. Heckenwel der's interesting letter on this subject, inserted in the fourth volume of the American Transactions, and to which we beg leave to refer the curious reader, the alluring of birds appear to be the predominant motive. It has been, moreover, asserted, that, besides their own sharp note, they occasionally adopt those of other birds, with a view to draw them within their reach. Instances are on record of their having been bred to the flight of game; and, in Sweden, they are still employed to discover sparrow hawks.