Tlie Great Shrike feeds upon mice, shrews, small birds,
frogs, lizards, and large insects. After having killed its
prey, it fixes the body in a forked branch, or upon a sharp
thorn, the more readily, as is supposed, to pull off small
pieces from it. I t is from this habit of killing and hanging
up their meat, which is observed also in other Shrikes, that
they have been generally called Butcher-birds. Part of a
letter from Mr. Henry Doubleday of Epping, in reference to
the Great Shrike, is as follows:—“ An old bird of this
species, taken near Norwich in October 1835, lived in my
possession twelve months. I t became very tame, and would
readily take its food from my hands. When a bird was
given it, it invariably broke the skull, and generally ate the
head first. I t sometimes held the bird in its claws, and
pulled it to pieces in the manner of Hawks,—but seemed to
prefer forcing part of it through the wires, then pulling at
it. I t always hung what it could not eat up on the sides of
the cage. I t would often eat three small birds in a day. In
the spring it was very noisy, one of its notes a little resembling
the cry of the Kestrel.” Sheppard and Whitear state
that Hoy having observed a Great Shrike frequenting a thick
hedge near his house, found on examination three frogs and
as many mice spitted on the thorns. As the bird was so
shy as not to be approached within gunshot, he set six
small steel traps, each baited with a mouse. On the following
day two of the traps were sprung and the baits gone.
Hiding himself and watching, he soon afterwards saw the
Shrike dart down upon a bait and rise perpendicularly, but
this time not quickly enough, as it was caught by two of its
toes.M
r. Blackwall has recorded of this species that a bird-
catcher near Manchester, having arranged the cage containing
his call-bird, and set limed twigs about it, a Great
Shrike flew to the cage and was caught. Having placed it
in a dark cage with the Redpolls he had previously taken, he
was surprised and mortified, on reaching home, to find it
had killed all its fellow-captives. A Shrike, as recorded in
the ‘ Zoological Journal’ (ii. p. 26), which was taken alive
in a clap-net near London, in the act of striking at the call-
bird, throve well in confinement, but was readily parted with
by its possessor, who found that its note, once heard, stopped
the song of all his other birds. I t is said to have considerable
power of voice, and sufficient flexibility to enable it
to imitate the notes of some of the smaller birds, and thus
attract them within its reach. Whether the last assertion
be true or not, there is no doubt that the Shrike itself is
ingeniously made use of by the Dutch falconers during
autumn and winter when catching Passage Hawks. The
whole manner of proceeding cannot be here described in
detail,* for the apparatus used is complicated, but perhaps
the following will suffice. The Shrike is tethered near a
hut, wherein, half-buried in the ground, the falconer lies
bidden, watching through a small hole his sentinel, which
by its actions not only gives him notice of the approach of a
Bird-of-prey, but also indicates to some extent of what kind
the stranger is : thus, according to Prof. Schlegel, whose
magnificent treatise on Falconry has been before mentioned
in these pages, the Shrike is but slightly troubled at a
passing Kite, Buzzard or Eagle, but beats itself on its perch
with loud screams at the sight of a Harrier, while on the
appearance of a Falcon or Sparrow-Hawk the vedette drops
with cries of distress into a retreat which has been considerately
provided for it.t On this the falconer, by pulling
long strings, displays first one and then a second tethered
Pigeon, previously concealed under sods of turf, and, the
instant the Hawk clutches the last Pigeon, draws a bow-net
over both, thus securing his prize.
Selby, writing from personal observation, states that the
* There is a good account of it by Hoy (Mag. Nat. Hist. iv. p. 342).
t “ The signs of alarm,” adds the same excellent authority in a note (Traité
(le la Fauconnerie, p. 44), “ which the Shrike gives, vary infinitely, not only
according to the species of Bird-of-prey which appears, but also according to the
mode by which it approaches —whether slowly or quickly, gliding over the ground
or soaring aloft, and so on. I t is impossible, without having observed them
attentively, to have an idea of the astonishing instinct of these little beings,
whose habits must be carefully studied before one is able to judge correctly the
motives of all tlieir movements.”
VOL. ] . U D