536 GREAT CINEREOUS SHRIKE.
11 bites with great pertinacity, and will seldom let go its hold unless its
throat is squeezed.
Its flight is strong, swift, and sustained : it moves through the air in
long undulations which have each an extent of twenty or thirty yards,
but it seldom rises very high, unless for the purpose of obtaining a good
point of observation, and in its usual flight merely passes over the tops of
the low bushes rapidly and in silence, in starts of from fifty to a hundred
yards. I never saw one walk or move on the ground.
They are extremely fond of crickets and /grasshoppers, as well as
other kinds of insects, and they feed on the flesh of birds whenever they
can procure it. The individuals which I have kept in cages, appeared
well pleased with pieces of fresh beef, but they generally remained dull
and sullen until they died. As it was only during winter that I had
them in confinement, when no coleopterous insects could be procured, I
had no opportunity of observing if, like Hawks, they have the power of
throwing up hard particles of the food which they swallow, although I
should suppose this to be the case. Their propensity to impale insects
and small birds on the sharp points of twigs and on thorns, which they so
frequently do at all seasons of the year, is quite a mystery to me, as I
cannot conceive what its object may be.
I have represented four of these birds of different ages, and therefore
differing in colour and size, leaving to the naturalists of Europe to determine,
if they can, whether the American species be the same as the
one found in that portion of the globe. For my part, I believe the two
to be the same. In our species the transverse lines of the breast disappear
as the bird advances in age, when the tint of the upper part of the plumage
also becomes lighter.
JLANIUS EXCUBITOR, Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 135—Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. i.
p. 67.
LANIUS SEPTENTRIONALIS, Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. p. 72.
LANIUS BOBEALIS, Vieill. Ois. de l'Amer. vol. i. p. 80. pi. 50.—Swains, and Bicliards.
Fauna Bor. Amer. vol. ii. p. 111. pi. 33. (Young.)
GREAT CINEREOUS SHRIKE, Mont. Ornith. Diet—Selby, Illustrations, vol i. p. 148.
GREAT AMERICAN SHRIKE or BUTCHER BIRD, LANIUS EXCOBITOR, Wils. Amer.
Ornith. vol. p. 74. pi. 5. fig. 1.—Nuttall, Manual, part i. p. 25.
Adult Male. CXCII. Fig. 1.
Bill of moderate length, strong, compressed; upper mandible with the
GREAT CINEREOUS SHRIKE. 537
dorsal outline a little arched, the tip decimate, the edges sharp and inflected
towards the strong process, which is separated from the tip by a
deep sinus ; lower mandible with the dorsal line convex, the sides rounded,
the edges inflected, the acute tip ascending. Nostrils basal, lateral, half
closed by an arched membrane. Head large, neck short, body robust.
Feet of ordinary length ; tarsus rather short, compressed, anteriorly scutellate,
sharp behind ; toes five, the lateral ones nearly equal, the hind toe
stouter ; claws arched, compressed, acute.
Plumage soft, blended. Long bristles at the base of the bill. Wings
of ordinary length, the fourth quill longest, third little shorter, second
shorter than sixth, first about half the length of second; secondaries
rounded, with a minute tip. Tail long, straight, graduated, of twelve
rounded feathers.
Bill brownish-black at the end, paler towards the base, the edges of
both mandibles and the basal part of the lower, flesh-colour tinged with
yellow. Iris hazel. Feet brownish-black. The upper parts are light
ash-grey, the ends of the scapulars, and the rump feathers and upper
tail-coverts, greyish-white; a streak of the same colour over the eye; the
lore and ear-coverts brownish-black. The first row of smaller wing-coverts,
the primary and secondary coverts, and the quills, brownish-black; the
latter, especially the secondary quills, as well as their coverts, tipped with
white. Base of the primaries white, forming a conspicuous spot on the
wing. Tail-feathers brownish-black ; outer web of the outermost, with
more than a third of the inner web from the tip, white; the extremities
of all the rest, excepting the two middle, of the same colour, which gradually
occupies less extent on the inner feathers. The whole under
surface greyish-white, tinged with brown on the fore part of the breast,
which is transversely marked with faint undulating bars of dark grey, as
are the sides.
Length 10} inches, extent of wings 14 bill along the back \, along
the edge of lower mandible 1 / 2 ; tarsus l T y
Adult Female. Plate CXCII. Fig. 2.
The female differs from the male only in having the head and neck
slightly tinged with brown, the band before the eye obscure, and the under
parts with more numerous undulated lines.
Adult Male in summer. Plate CXCII. Fig. 3.