Morning journal and courier., 1894-05-24
THE SHRIK q.

A Very Strange Bird That Impales
other Birds for the Fun OF IL.
Maurice Thompson in the New York Inde-
pendentl
The shrike has troubled orpithologifts q
great deal with his curious habits and his
droll physical expression. He has the
head and bill of hawk, the body of a jay
and the feet of an ordinary percher. He
is e little bird, smaller than brown
thrush and unobtrusiye In his manners;
but a great record of evil is made up to bis
discredit.
1 have taken many opportunities to
study this bird, especially the southern
species Usnius ludovicisnusl, and among
my notes find come bits of observation
aot before given to the public. These
notes were taken for the greater part In
the hill country of Georgia and Alabama,
some of them in the "valleys of Hall, VI
through which the poet Lsnier's brook
still tumbles along. and some far over be-
yond Sand mountain nearly to where Min
turn Peck MARBLES in the suburban groves
of Tuscaloosa; while yet others smack OF
the rare breath of Yonsh whence 1 could
look southwark aud ses almost to Paul
Haynes cottage and yet beyond to the fats
of Putnam where Uncle Rsmus frat met
Br'er Rabbit, or eastward into the old
haunts of Simms and Timrod. Every Leaf
turn watts me q Whit of crab spple fra
GRANGE, and j see the haw thiekets in
bloom.
Although our ehrike is not identical
with the European Lsnius, he has the
came habits and much the came physical
markings. In general color he is ash blue
but when he files you see lines of spark
ling white on wings aud tail, and on each
side of his head q longitudinal dash oi
black crosses the eye from the base of the
bill. In the southern species this blsek
marking passes in front between the bill
and the eyes. While fying he looks 60
much like a rhocking bird that the closest
observer is sometimes momentsrily de
ceived. You will know the shrike, how
ever, by his bounding flight, which IL
somewhat like the woodpscker's; and wh' 4
he perches he sits upright. like q hawk,
with bis broad fat head close down on his
shoulders. His short body tape: rapidly
to long, black tail, which is edged and
tipped. saving the two middle feather
with white.
The American shrikes are wide rangers,
the two species and the intermediate vsri.
eties lsppipg far over into one another,
domain. have more than once seen ths
great northern shrike in Georgia sud the
southern species IS a common bird in mid
die Indiana.
without regard to fast and loose sys
tematic science, the skrike lie the link be
tween the sparrow hawks aud birds like
the jays. Like the sparrow hawk. 1t lives
chiefly on grasshoppers, butterflies, smsl
birds, mice, lizards and other weak ami
mails, falling upon ifs prey unawsrs oil
chasing 1t vigorously until captured. / 4
legs and feet, however, aud Its wings and
tail, depart very far from the hawk model
while its wind pipe has perfect cong bird
syrinx.
Ornithologists have, therefore. olassed
Lsnius (ths butcher) with the Oscines, OIL
singers, notwithstanding Its vosca, which
is as hsrsh as the raspipg of Q file. Yor
do not often hear Its cry, "a silence bes
suits its raptorisl purposes; still you car
soon distinguish o trace of the hswk's
scream In it IL you kesp your ears opsn
Wilson compares its cry to the "creakinf
of signboard In windy weather"
In our country the shrike does not max.
himself 30 exclusively q mountain bird iu
the nesting sesson as does his European
cousin; yet have found nests far NOR,
tain slopes. 1t is most often In winter
that we see the bird In our prsiries and
level districts. Here and there shrik,
builds In middle Indiana, Ohio and Ill.
nois; but amid the Cherokee hills of NORTH
Carolina I have found dozsns of nest
within q radius of half q mile where tn,
wild plum, the hsw and the honey locust
thorn grew plentifully.
The bird seems to have . double reason
for choosing prickly growth to make 1T
home In. Thorns are protection for th,
nest and they are handy spikes to spit Ger
tain unfortunate victims on when thu
shrike is In the humor for performing 1T
| fsvorite butcher trick-a trick which hs
set naturalists to wondering what the,
know about ahrikes after all. / ono
counted more than seven large grssshop
psrs impsled on the spears of o honey 10
Gust bush. Hard by, in haw tree, Q fn
nest showed who lived thereabout, AMI
presently came the shrike to fx yet anoth
| er Of those
i sfHizh eIbowed grfgs