Shrike, or Butcher-bird, in ornithology; a genus belonging to the order of accipitres, the characters of which are these: The beak is somewhat strait, with a tooth on each side towards the apex, and naked at the base; and the tongue is lacerated.
1. The excubitor, great cinereous shrike, or greater butcher-bird, is in length ten inches. The plumage on the upper parts is of a pale ash-colour; the under, white; through the eyes there is a black stripe; the scapulars are white; the base of the greater quills is white, the rest black; the tail is somewhat cuneiform; the two middle feathers are black; the outmost on each side, white; those between are black, with the ends more or less white; the legs are black. 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 also call this bird wurrchangel, or "the suffocating angel." It feeds on small birds, young nestlings, 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 thorntrager and thornfreker. When confined in a cage, they will often treat their food in much the same manner, sticking it against the wires before they devour it.—This bird inhabits many parts of Europe and North America. The female makes its nest with heath and moss, lining it with wool and gossamer; and lays six eggs, about as big as those of a thrush, of a dull olive-green, spotted at the thickest end with black. In spring and summer it imitates the voices of other birds, by way of decoying them within reach, that it may destroy them; but beyond this, the natural note is the same throughout all seasons. If a trap-fall be baited with a living small bird, it proves a decoy, by which it may be taken in winter. It is observed to be mute when kept in a cage, though seemingly content.—In countries where they are plenty, the husbandmen value them, on supposition of their destroying rats, mice, and other vermin. They are supposed to live five or six years; and are often trained up for catching small birds in Ruffia. In Carniola they are migratory, coming in May and departing in September; which is the case also in respect to the few which are met with in England.
2. The collario, or lesser butcher-bird, is seven inches and a half in length. 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, are 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. It is rather larger than the male. This bird is much more common than the former species. Mr Latham suspects its being a bird of passage, never having seen it in winter. It lays six white eggs marked with a rufous brown circle towards the large end. The nest is generally in a hedge or low bush; near which, it is said, no small bird chooses to build; for it not only feeds on insects, but also on the young of other birds in the nest, taking hold of them by the neck, and strangling them, beginning to eat them first at the brain and eyes. It is fonder of grasshoppers and beetles than of other insects, which it eats by morsels, and, when satisfied, sticks the remainder on a thorn; when kept in a cage, it does the same against the wires of it, like the former species. It is called in the German language by a name signifying "great head," or "bull head," from the size of that part. It will also feed on sheep's kidneys, if in a cage, eating a whole one every day. Like the cinereous shrike, it only mocks the notes of other birds, having none of its own; and this merely, like that, to decoy. It is said to be in this imitative art an adept; if money is counted over at midnight in the place where one of these is kept, so as to make a jingling noise, it begins to imitate the same sound. When sitting on the nest, the female is soon discovered; for on the approach of any one, she sets up an horrible outcry.
3. The comilescens, or fork-tailed Indian butcher-bird of Edwards, is in length about seven inches and a half; the bill is blackish brown, and bent; the upper mandible beset with black hairs turning forwards: the plumage on the upper parts of the body is a fine black, with a glofs of blue and in some lights green; the under parts are white: the greater quills and tail are of a ferruginous black; the tail is pretty much forked, and the outer feather spotted with dirty white. It inhabits Bengal, where it is called singab. It is called also by the Indians the king of the crows, from its pursuing these birds from place to place with a great noise, and pecking them on the back till they escape.
4. The Antiguan shrike (or Pie-griechische d'Antique of Sonnerat) is about the size of a lark. Its bill is large and black; the upper mandible very long, and the curvature so excessive that one would rather take it for a monstrosity than common to any one species: the irides are dusky: the head is black; the back, of a yellowish rufous colour; the throat and breast are white; the quills, and bastard wing-coverts, black; and the wings reach only to the beginning of the tail. which is very long and wedge-shaped; the two middle feathers are wholly black; the legs are dusky black.
It inhabits Panay, one of the Philippine islands, but principally about Antique, one of the provinces thereof.
5. The jocofus, or jocose shrike, is in length seven inches and a half. The bill is blackish, rather straighter than in most of the genus, and furnished only with a very fine notch near the tip; the crown of the head is black, except some long brown feathers, which form a kind of crest; the sides of the head, throat, and fore part of the neck, are white; from each corner of the mouth there is a black line, continued backwards; and under each eye is a small spot of lively red; the upper parts of the body are brown; the under parts, dirty white; the vent, rose-colour; on the lower part of the neck and breast there is a kind of a brown band; the quills are brown; the tail is greatly wedge-shaped, and in colour brown, except the four outer feathers on each side, which have white tips; the legs and claws are black. This is a Chinese bird, and called in those parts by the name of kowkai-kon. It feeds upon rice and insects, particularly cockroaches.
6. The faustus, or rock-shrike, is in length seven inches and three quarters. The bill is about an inch long, and blackish; the head and neck are of a dark ash-colour, marked with small rufous spots; the upper part of the back is a dark brown; the lower much paler, inclining to ash, especially towards the tail; the quills and wing-coverts are dusky, with pale margins; the breast, and under parts of the body, are orange, marked with small spots, some white and others brown; the tail is three inches in length; the two middle feathers are brown, the others rufous; the legs are blackish; the wings and tail are even. This is the description of the female. The male is said to differ very little, except in being of a brighter colour.
—This species is met with in many parts of Europe, from Italy on the one hand, to Russia on the other; and is found in some parts of Germany, the Alpine mountains, those of Tyrol, and such-like places. The manners of this bird seem disputed. Buffon says that it perches on a high stone, and as soon as a marksman appears with his gun, removes to a greater distance, and so on as often as he approaches; which renders this species difficult to come at. Brunnich and Linnaeus, on the contrary, say that it is a bold bird, attending the traveller while at his meal, on purpose to feed on his scraps. It has an agreeable note of its own, approaching to that of the hedge-sparrow, and will also learn to imitate that of others. It makes the nest among the holes of the rocks, &c., hiding it with great art; and lays three or four eggs, feeding the young with worms and insects, on which it also feeds itself. It may be taken young from the nest, and brought up as the nightingale.
7. The faustus, or white-wreathed shrike, is about the size of a common thrush. Its bill is pale; the upper parts of the body are grey; the under ferruginous; from the eyes to the hind head there passes a whitish line, composed of numerous white feathers, rendering it truly characteristic; the wings are rounded; the quills brownish, with grey edges, which are crossed with numerous slender brown lines; the tail is rounded, brown, and crossed with numerous bars of darker brown; the legs are pale. This elegant species inhabits China, where it is known by the name of whom.
It may be observed, among others, in Chinese paper-hangings, where the white line seems to encompass the back part of the head like a wreath.
8. The Dominican shrike (or Pie-grièche Dominiquaine of Sonnerat), is bigger than a sparrow, and rather longer. The bill is greyish, conical, and strong; the base befit with brittles, pointing forwards; the head, neck, breast, back, wings, and tail, are black; the belly and rump white; the wings reach near an inch beyond the middle of the tail; the thighs are black. It inhabits the Philippine islands, and is a bold courageous bird; it flies very quick, and with great rapidity; frequently hovering in the air like a swallow. It is a great enemy to the raven; to whom, though much bigger, he bids defiance, and even provokes him to combat; the battle often lasts half an hour, and ends with the retreat of the raven; rather, perhaps, from being teased out than much injured by the little enemy.
9. The nengeta (Guirarou, Buff.) is in length nine or ten inches. Its bill is dusky, and befit with brittles at the base; the irides are sapphire-coloured; and from the angles of the mouth, through the eyes, there runs a black streak; the upper parts of the body are of a dark brownish ash-colour; the under parts cinereous white; in the middle of the wing are a few white feathers; the quills and tail are nearly black; and all the feathers of the last, except the two middle ones, are obliquely tipped with white; the legs are of a dark ash-colour; the claws black.—These birds are found at Surinam and Brazil. They are common likewise at Guiana, where they frequent watery places, and are found in great numbers together. They are observed, at frequent intervals, to set up a great cry all together; which affords a happy and certain prelude to the thirsty traveller, in the immense forests of Guiana, of water being at hand.
10. The tyrannus, or tyrant shrike, is about the size of a thrush. Its bill is a blackish brown, befit with brittles at the base; the irides are brown; the upper parts of the plumage grey brown; the under, white; the breast inclines to ash-colour; the head is blackish on the upper part; the base of the feathers on that part in the male is orange, but seldom visible except it erects the feathers, when there appears a streak of orange down the middle of the crown; the tail is brown, margined with rufous; the legs and claws are black brown. The female scarcely differs, except in the head; the base of the crown feathers being yellow instead of orange; the colours are not quite so deep, and it is a trifle less in size. It inhabits Virginia.—There is a variety which inhabits St Domingo and Jamaica. These birds are called titiri, pipiri, or quiriri, from their cry, which resembles those words. The first is called the black-headed or great-billed pipiri; the second, the yellow-headed pipiri or pipiri of passage. The first though in plenty are seldom seen but in pairs; the second in great troops, about the month of August, when they are very fat, and killed in great numbers for the table, as their flesh is accounted good eating.—All authors agree in the manners of these birds, which are ferocious to a great degree while the hen is sitting; no bird whatever dare approach their nest; they will attack the first which comes near, without reserve, and usually come off conquerors. From hence by some they are called king-birds. The Carolina tyrant of Catesby is little, if at all, different from the preceding, in regard to specific character. But he says that it makes its nest rather exposed, on trees and bushes, frequently on the salalfras; whereas the pipiris make use of the hole of a tree, for the sake of concealing it. In Carolina it is a bird of passage, coming in spring, and making one nest in a year, which is commonly in June, and after bringing up its young, retires in autumn. These birds frequent also the red cedars; are seldom found in woods, but often in hedge rows and fences of fields, and for the most part within 200 yards of each other. They do not molest their own species; but the moment either crow, or even eagle, appears, all within reach join forces, and begin the attack in all parts of his body at once, never desisting till they have driven him to a great distance.
11. The albus, or white Panayan shrike, is about double the size of a lark. Its bill is black; the head, neck, back, belly, and shoulders, are white; the rest of the wings and tail black; and across the greater quills there is a white band: the legs are black. It inhabits the isle of Panay.
There are above 40 other species of this genus, besides many varieties.