THE SHRIKE, OR BUTCHER BIRD. 45

insects, several of which it spits at a time
upon a thorn, that it may devour and eat
them at its leisure, or keep in reserve for
some future occasion; but such is its ap-
petite for flesh, that it will attack birds
of three times its own size, as the crow
and the magpie, and often comes off vic-
tor, though sometimes it perishes in the
conflict, and falls together with its victim.
In spring and summer, it imitates the
notes of the smaller feathered tribes, to
allure them to their destruction, but at
other times it is mute. It builds on trees
in mountainous districts, and makes its
nest with moss and dry grass, lined with
wool. They have a singular mode of fly-
ing, rising and falling vertically, seldom
moving straight forward.