SHRIKE (AS. scric, Icel. skrilcia, shrike, from skrikja, to shriek, titter; connected with Gk. tcp(gecv, kri:ein., to creak). A predatory, insectivorous bird of the family Laniid:v, having a short, thick, and compresl.ed bill, the upper mandible curved, hooked at the tip, and fur nished with a prominent tooth, the base of the bill beset with hairs, which point forward. About 200 species are known, most of them natives of warm climates.
The typical shrikes or 'butcher-birds' are those of the subfamily Laniina-, which are mainly in habitants of northern countries, and closely re semble one another in size (9 to 11 inches in total length), colors. (pearl-gray and white, set off with black markings on the face, wings, and tail) , and in boldness and rapacity. Two species inhabit North America. These birds prey main ly on large insects, especially grasshoppers, in summer, but also on small mammals, birds, young snakes, frogs, and crayfish. Those they do not eat at once they impale on thorns, splin ters of fences, and the like; and in confinement they make use of a nail for this purpose, or stick portions of their food between the wires of the cage. The German peasants believe that nine such victims are regularly accumulated by each bird, and call a shrike 'nine-killer.' The prac tice originated, probably, in an effort on the part of the birds to fix their food firmly while tearing it to pieces; and it is not properly speak ing a storage of food, since in many cases the bodies are not again touched. Large numbers of
mice and English sparrows are killed in winter, so that the bird is a public benefactor. The typical European species is the great gray or sen tinel shrike (Lanius exeubitor). The common or 'great northern' shrike of North America (Leģins borealis), familiar in the Northern United States in winter, and breeding northward in a rude nest placed in a tree, is closely similar; while the 'loggerhead' shrike of the Southern States (Lanius Ludoricianus) has much the same colors, but is smaller.
The large, bald, and strikingly colored 'piping crows' (q.v.) represent an Australian group called Gymnorhime. Those of the subfamily llalaconotime small, brilliantly dressed, est-dwelling birds of Africa and India, some of which arc notable singers. A third group (Pachy cephalime) includes a series of small tree-dwell ing, usually yellow, birds of the Malayan Archi pelago and Australia, with the habits of fly catchers. Better known are the East Indian 'wood-shrikes' of the subfamily Prionopime, of which the graceful and familiar Australian mag pie-lark and the queer helmet-bird of Mada gascar are also members.
Consult: Newton, Dictionary of Birds (New York, 1896) ; Evans, Birds (London, 1900) ; and the authorities therein cited.