The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1908-11-17
=. NATURES MURDERS -.


One of the most startling sights
Of cruelty, apparently wanton, that
will meet one in country walk is
/ the spectacle of thorn-tree with its
! spines adorned by varied arrange
ment of beetles, bumble-bees, un-
f1edged birds, and injured baby
mice. These miserable little speci-
mems are impaled on the thorns, and
the first thought of the beholder who
has not been initiated into the mean
ing of this cruel mystery is that they
/ must have been pinned there by some
william boy in the simple lust of cru
city which is so singular character
istic of the human being in that stage
of its existence. Did not Plato ESQ
long ago as that!) say of boy that he
was the most savage of all beasts?
There is no doubt that the average
boy is a savage, and there are boys
whom just such deed as this which
the thorn-tree exhibits would espe-
cially delight. We may hope that
they are in minority. In any case,
we have in this instance to hold boy
guiltless of the offence. This thorn
tree is thus adorned with it's insect
sacrifices in no wanton spirit, but in
obedience to the instinct which i'm
pels certain birds of the shrike species
to fix their prey on thorns for greater
ease of carving. The bird that has
thus hung up it's joints on the thorn
tree, as on the hooks of larder, Is
IN oil W nd
shrike, called with much propriety
the butcher-bird ("Lanius excubi-
tory. 1t has other relatives with
like tendencies, but in this country
of Great Britain it is far more likely
that the implement of the insects
is the work of the red-backed shrikei
than of any other species. The plum
age of both sexes is handsome, and
that of the male is conspicuously
beautiful The red back, from which
he takes his name, is of rich chest
nut color, which is occasionally given
by nature to the human hair, more
often is initiated basely by art. There
is dark and handsome line over his
eye; his head and under-parts are
of pearly gray that warns to a
pinkish hue on the breast, and about
his tail and wing coyerts above there
is an arrangement of black and white
that is most effective. Altogether,
he is a gay and dashing butcher, and
his wife faithfully reproduces his
hues on a more sober scale.
1t is not at all likely that you will
be allowed to wait long in the neigh
borhood of his larder without being
fully informed of his presence He
is no seeker of concealment, and the
first intimation of his presence that
you are likely to receive will be in
the form of energetic expostulation
at your own presence so near his dim
ner. He scolds as if he suspected
you of designs to steal it. The term
fscold" expresses his note better
than any other 1t is harsh and an
CRY. His movements are quick and
dashing, his carriage is proud and
insolent He looks the part of the
successful perpetrator of iniquities.
Yet he is good husband and father.
He makes nest, agreeably to his
character, of large, careless, yet
practical kind, in just such another
of these thorn bushes, very likely, as
he takes for his larder. He is most
attentive to his young family, teach
ing them from the very first his own
insectivorous ways, and when he has
reared them to such size and vigor
that they can follow him and his wife
about the world he always leads them
away for some distance from the
scene of their nursery, and you may
see him and the motherhood any
where outside half-mile radius or
so from their nesting place, catching
insects and giving them to the young
birds. This habit of departing from
the immediate neighborhood of the
nursery, with all the family, as soon
as the youngsters are grown to such
a strength as to be able to make the
move, is one which the butchers seem
to have in common with many other
kinds. One does not know the motive
whether the birds have more or
less exhausted the available food sup
ply in that particular place, whether
they think that little change of air
would be good for them and for the
family, or whether they are simply
bored, as would seem quite natural,
with being in one place too long. At
all events, it is a very common habit
with birds, as soon as their young
ones can quit the nest, to decamp
and take I'M their Quarters at some
little distance from it.
No one, so far as / am aware. has
been able to give very certain ac-
count of the motive which leads the
shrikes to- adopt this plan of fixing
their food on thorns. One may make
speculations. For instance, the
shrike is half hawk; that is to say,
that, feeding on food of very much
the same character as some kinds Of
hawks, such as the krestel, he has
beak with just little of the hawks
hook at the tip, and has claws not
nearly so powerful and prehensile.
What hawk, as a rule, does when
he has caught his prey IS to hold it
firmly down with his strong talons
while he rends it to pieces with his
strong and sharp-hooked beak. The
shrike has not as powerful beak,
size for size, as the hawk, and has
not nearly as powerful talons 1t
may be that he would find himself
at loss to rend his prey into the
pieces convenient for the swallowing
bv himself and by his Young family