The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1895-08-15
THE BUTCHER BIRD.
Brave Fellow That Has Been Greatly
Slandered.

u,
reposeful and unusually silent. l have
seen him, once or twice, fiirt his half
opened tail and jerk his wings, but he
rarely showed even so much impatience
or restlessness. He sat on the fence
and regarded me, or he drove away an
intrusive neighbor, with the same calm
and serious air with which he did every
thing. l have heard of pranks and
1antlstic performances, of strange, I'M
couth and absurd cries and, of course,
It's impossible to say what vagaries he
might have INDUCED in if he had
Thought himself unobserved, but in
many hours and days of close study of
TINS bird | saw nothing of the kind.
lhe only utterance | heard from him.
excepting his song, of which | will
speak presently, was a rafting cry
with which he pursued an intruder,
and soft, coaxing ''yeap" when he
came to the nest and found his mate
absent.
One of the most prominent traits of
this bird as we find him depicted in
the books and the popular writings, is
his quarrelsome and cruel disposition;
and ''brigand, assassin, murderer"
end butcher" are names commonly
y, iod to him.
'tI*vatched the shrike several hours
daily for weeks, and from the first |
was every moment on the alert for the
slightest manifestation of these char
acterlstics; and what did | find out?
First, as to mis- quarrelsome disposition,
his unfriendliness with his own species.
l have already spoken of the anna Bile
association, in the very nesting tree,
OF half dozen of the birds, as reported
by trustworthy and experienced OBJ
server. On one occasion, somewhat
later, l saw an exhibition of a similar
friendliness among four adult shrikes.
They were frolicking about another
thorn tree in the same pasture, in the
same peaceful manner; and while l
looked one OF them picked up a tid-bit
from the ground and flew to the nest |
was watching, thus proving that the
nesting bird was one of the group. At
least twice after ward, when silently
approaching the nest, found two 9TH
er shrikes hopping about with the one
| was studying, on the ground, almost
under the tree. On my appearing the
strangers flew, and the nest owner
went up to his mate with an offering
We do not think of calling the robin or
hluebird particularly quarrelsome, yet
fancy one of these birds allowing an
other of his species to come to his home
I,UarU Oh 81 !, I'D
ways knows that it is apparently the
first article in the avian creed to keep
every other bird away from the nest.
And how did the terrible 'brigand"
treat his neighbors? The robin, in
deed, he drove away, but meadow
larks sang and ''sputtered" at their
pleasure, not only beside him on the
fence, but on his own small tree; gold
inches flew over, singing and calling,
and no notice was taken of them;
sparrows hoped about among the
branches of the thorn at their discre-
yssia; chickadee one day made search
ing examination of nearly every twig
and leaf, going close to and over the
nest, where the sitting bird must have
times, when madam left her nest for
refreshments, she would sweep by a
bird who happened to be on the tree
thus making him fly, but she never
followed or showed any special inter-
est in him. Whatever other shrikes
may be or do, at least this pair, and
the three or four others who visited
hAi -
bors small as well as great.
If bravery is a virtue-and why is it
not in feathers as well as in broad
cloth?-the shrike should stand high
in our estimation, for he does not hest
tate to attack and make his prey ami
mails which few birds of his size dare
touch; not only mice. but creatures as
well armed as gophers and others.
| was particularly DESTROYS to hear
the song of the shrike He is not
classed with singing birds, and is not,
l think, usually credited with being
musical. But Thoreau speaks of his
song, and others mention it. John
Burroughs tells of shrike singing in
his vicinity in winter, "a crude broken
MARBLE 'saluting the sun as robin
might have done" Winter, indeed,
seems to be his chosen time for sing
ing and an ornithologist in st.
Adams says that in that season he
sings by the hour in the streets of the
town.
Therefore did | sit unobtrusivelv on
the near side of the thorn tree, leav-
ing the birds their screen, to encour-
age them to sing; and at last | had my
reward. One very hot day l did not
reach my place under the maple till
after nine o'clock, and | found the
shrike, as | frequently did, on the
.fsr e>--on guard. In a few moments,
When l had become quiet, he went to
the nest, and sitting there on the edge,
hidden from my distinct view, he CON
descended to sing, low, sweet song,
truly musical, though simple in con-
struction, being merely a single clear
note, followed by a triil several tones
higher. After delivering this attrac-
tive little aria a dozen or more tones,
he flew out of the tree and over my
head, and sang no more.-Olive Thorne
Miller, in Atlantic.
Pensions in Germany.