the shrisk, or Butcher-bird, in ornithology, a genus belonging to the order of accipitres; the characters of which are these: The beak is somewhat stout, with a tooth on each side towards the apex, and naked at the base; and the tongue is lacerated. There are 26 species, distinguished by the shape of the tail and colour. The following are those known in Britain.

1. The excubitor, or greater butcher-bird, weighs three ounces; its length is 10 inches; its breadth 1¼; its bill is black, one inch long, and hooked at the end; the upper mandible furnished with a sharp process; the nostrils are oval, covered with black bristles pointing downwards: the muscles that move the bill are very thick and strong; which makes the head very large. This apparatus is quite requisite in a species whose method of killing its prey is so singular, and whose manner of devouring it is not less extraordinary: small birds it will seize by the throat, and strangle; which probably is the reason the Germans call this bird war-changel, or the suffocating angel. It feeds on small birds, young nettles, beetles, and caterpillars. When it has killed the prey, it fixes them on some thorn, and when thus spitted pulls them to pieces with its bill; on this account the Germans call it thornrauer and thornfecker. We have seen them, when confined in a cage, treat their food in much the same manner, sticking it against the wires before they would devour it. Mr Edwards very justly imagines, that as nature has not given these birds strength sufficient to tear their prey to pieces with their feet, as the hawks do, they are obliged to have recourse to this artifice. It makes its nest with heath and moss, lining it with wool and gosamer; and lays six eggs, of a dull olive green, spotted at the thickest end with black.

The crown of the head, the back, and the covert feathers that lie immediately on the joints of the wings, are ash-coloured; the rest of the coverts black: the quill-feathers are black, marked in their middle with a broad white bar; and except the four first feathers, and the same number of those next the body, are tipped with white: the tail consists of 12 feathers of unequal lengths, the middle being the longest; the two middlemost are black, the next on each side tipped with white, and in the rest the white gradually increases to the utmost, where the colour has entire possession, or there remains only a spot of black: the cheeks are white, but crossed from the bill to the hind-part of the head with a broad black stroke: the throat, breast, and belly are of a dirty white: the legs are black. The female is of the same colour with the male, the breast and belly excepted, which are marked transversely with numerous semicircular brown lines.

2. The colurio, or lesser butcher-bird. The male weighs two ounces; the female two ounces two drams. The length of the former is seven inches and a half; the breadth eleven inches. The irides are hazel; the bill resembles that of the preceding species: the head and lower part of the back are of a fine light grey; across the eyes from the bill runs a broad black stroke: the upper part of the back, and coverts of the wings, are of a bright ferruginous colour; the breast, belly, and sides, are of an elegant blossom colour; the two middle feathers of the tail are longest, and entirely black; the lower part of the others white, and the exterior webs of the outmost feather on each side wholly so. In the female, the stroke across the eyes is of a reddish brown: the head of a dull rust-colour mixed with grey; the breast, belly, and sides, of a dirty white, marked with semicircular dusky lines: the tail is of a deep brown; the outward feather on each side excepted, whose exterior webs are white. These birds build their nests in low bushes, and lay six eggs of a white colour, but encircled at the bigger end with a ring of brownish red.

3. The woodchat in size seems equal to the preceding: the bill is horn-coloured; the feathers that surround... Lanner surround the base are whitish; above is a black line drawn across the eyes, and then downwards each side of the neck; the head and hind part of the back are of a bright bay; the upper part of the back dusky, the coverts of the tail grey, the scapulars white; the coverts of the wings dusky, the quill-feathers black, marked towards the bottom with a white spot; the throat, breast, and belly, of a yellowish white. The two middle feathers appear to be entirely black; the exterior edges and tips of the rest white; the legs black. The female differs: the upper part of head, neck, and body, are reddish, striated transversely with brown; the lower parts of the body are of a dirty white, rayed with brown; the tail is of a reddish brown, marked near the end with dusky, and tipped with red.