The record-union., 1894-11-26
THE BUTCHER BIRD.
Uncanny Performances of the Beau
of the Woods.
He Hangs His Victims On the Limbs
of TreeS-HiS Vicious and
Cruel Habits.


little known and surely none has such
striking habits of lie as the shrike or
butcher bird. He is a member of fam
lily comprising some 200 species, of which
only one well defined sub-family is resi-
dent in North America. Bold, daring,
handsome, he is at once the braggart and
the beau of the woods. AT little dis
lance a Southerner would readily mis-
take him for the hooking bird.
His bluish-gray plumage, tail tipped
with white and broad black patch across
each eye, give him a trim, jaunty air
quite pleasing to the eye, but, alas a
dreaded object to smaller and weaker
birds. His habitat is Northern North
America, and though he breeds in the
high ground of New England and New
York, he grows more common after the
Canadian line is crossed.
The shrike is born tyrant. Not con-
tent with killing and devouring all in
sects large enough TO attract his fancy, he
attacks snakes, moIes, mice and small
birds whenever opportunity oilers. HIS
disposition is as ENJOYABLE at home as
abroad, for seldom are two or more seen
together out they are engaged III an ugly
family quarrel. They are truly carniver-
Gus, and except for certain weaknesses of
bone and muscle would rank as true
Dirus OF prey.
There is one strange, uncanny charac-
teriStic, however, which separates this
woodland bully from all known birds
NaturalisIs have watched it, studied 1t,
pondered over 1t and writted long pages
of mex plicable explanations OF it, and
common people have doubted in their
superstition or ignorance whether it W as
the doing of bird or demon IN bird
form. To-day 1t remains as deep a
mystery as it was 100 years ago.
This is the puzzle: The butcher bird
in his riotouS love of killing Stays many
more victims than he has any possible
use Tor. He seems TO do it for the mere
tun OF the thing. Instead of leaving the
dead, however, he carries them one by
one to some thorny hedge or tree and
there impales them in all sorts of fantas-
tic positions in the branches. 1t gives
one start to come out OF piece OF woods
when cunning and see thorn tree laden
with CHASTITY crop Of locusts, sparrows,
toads, grass-snakes, lizards and chip
munks.
III the shrike ever returned to feed upon
his grim hoard there would be an eX
PLANTATION OF his conduct and he would be
credited with the epicurean taste of a
thoroughbred vnlture who likes things
"a bit gamy.n But such is not the case.
The weird fruit hangs TOR days upon the
limbs, and il hawks or crows do not find
and steal it it will rot until only a few
tiny white skeletons remain to tell Of the
massacre.
Comparatively few jewellers in the
back woods know this eccentricity of the
butcher bird, and hence arise many curl
Gus and apparently Observation-Disclosures
stories of trees that catch birds in their
branches and of storms that rained down
toads and lizards, so that the trees were
full of them. Not more than fortnight
ago leading New York daily had a half
column devoted to mysterious rain of
snak es" in village in the northern part
of the State.
The story, which was well authenti-
Gated, stated that two prominent farmers
of the place, driving past an orchard after
a storm, saw an apple tree hanging full
of small snakes. Had they been men of
less established characters for sobriety
their regulations might have suffered
seriously after such reminlscence, but
as 1t was, several other persons afterward
visited the spot and saw for themselves
the unusual spectacle.
There were, it seems, at least hundred
young garter-snakeS and adders dangling
from the ends OF the lowest limbs, and on
closer examination it was found that
each reptile was transhxed by sharp
twig, upon which IL had apparently been
Impaled. No similar case had ever been
known in that region, and the only pos
sible explanation was, as the two farmers
claimed, that the snakes had been thrown
down in the rainstorm. How they were
ever carried up in the first place was not
explained.
This was but the bandiwork of our
friend the shrike. 1t was only good luck,
however, which threw the snakes in his
way, for he would quite as willingly have
decorated the tree with the prettiest song
birds in the woods.
The butcher bird is a born thief as we'll
as murderer, ana often meets his death
while hopelessly endeavoring to kill and
carry off a tame pet bird from cage or
to rob hunters cabin of fresh meat
ANY tid-bit he finds he will steal, even if
only to suspend it from locust Dough
hard by. The Canadian fur traders and
trappers despise him heartily, and never
lose chance to kill him. The half breeds
call him whisky Joe," and claim he is
half drunk all the time, and hence does
these foolish things.
He will spy out the most carefully hid
den trap and always manage to purloin
the bait without being caught. The wild
country north of the great lakes is a
favorite haunt of these butchers, and the
Indians who hunt and sell furs to the
Hudson Bay Company complain bitterly
of the depredations of whisky Joe."
The shrike builds bulky, somewhat
elaborate nest of heavy sticks below, and
upon this foundation warm covering of
bark, leaves and grass is laid. 1t is usually
in some low tree, and the eggs, which are
somewhat smaller than a pigeons, are
decidedly pretty. They are of a grayish
green, mottled, specked and scratched
with reddish brown. The young nestlings
begin their education by wrangling and
fighting as soon as Matched, in which
amiable diversion their fond parents set
them striking and perpetual examples
New York World.