262 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE.

The Bhrike. There are several species of Shrikes, the
Thick-headed Shrike, the Great Shrike, and the Red-backed
Shrike being among these. The Great Shrike belongs to both
Europe and America. In appearance it resembles the
Mocking Bird for which it is sometimes mistaken. It
preys upon mice, frogs, birds, grasshoppers and large insects,
killing and then impaling them upon thorns until such time
as it chooses to eat them. Its rapacity has earned for
it the name of “the Butcher Bird.” According to Mr.
Bell these birds are kept tame in the houses in Russia. One
in his possession was furnished with a sharply pointed stick
for a perch, on the end of which it spitted any bird or animal
it caught. The Shrike believes in a well filled larder, and
does not proceed to eat his game until he has a good stock.
He is also known as the “ Nine-killer” in America, from his
supposed preference for spitting that number at a forage.

The Jay. We now come to the family of the Corvide,
the crow family, which includes the Jays, the Magpies and
the Choughs. The Common Jay is indigenous in England
where it secludes itself in woody fastnesses, rarely exposing
itself in open country. It is a handsome bird about thirteen
inches long, with beautiful blue markings on its wings, but
is so shy that it is difficult to get a sight of it when at
liberty. Taken young it may be easily tamed, when it becomes
an amusing, if mischievous pet. It has considerable powers
of mimicry and can imitate the common sounds it hears with
wonderful exactness. The bleat of the lamb, the mew of the
cat, the neigh of the horse and the cries of other birds give
exercise to this faculty, and Bewick says: “We have heard
one imitate the sound made by the action of a saw, so exactly,
that though it was on a Sunday, we could hardly be persuaded
that the person who kept it had not a carpenter at work in
the house.” Like many other birds it becomes bold in the
care and protection of its young. Knapp in his “Journals
of a Naturalist” says: