GREAT GREY SHRIKE.
LANIUS EXCUBTTOR, Linn.
Lanius excubitor, Linn. S. N. i. p. 135 (1766); Naum. ii.
p. 7; Macg. iii. p. 492; Hewitson, i. p. 69; Yarr. ed. 4,
i. p. 199; Dresser, iii. p. 375.
Pie Grieche grise, French; Grosse Wurger, German;
Alcaudon, Spanish.
An irregular and not very common winter visitor to
our islands. Several circumstantial accounts of its
breeding in England have been published, but have, on
critical inquiry, been discovered to lack authentic foundation
; this is somewhat remarkable, as the bird breeds
not uncommonly in Holland, Belgium, and Rhenish
Prussia.
The singular habit of the Shrikes of fixing their prey
(which, for the most part, consists of beetles, small birds,
mice, earthworms, and lizards) on thorns is well known ;
it is, perhaps, not so generally well known that, although
these birds are most ravenous feeders, they consume but
very little at each meal. I have kept many of this
species in confinement, and used them with some success
as sentinels in Hawk-catching. The present species has
a low, but by no means an unpleasant, song.