[Illustration]
Lanius spinitorquus, BECHSTEIN; Lanius Collurio, LINNÆUS;
L'Ecorcheur, BUFFON; Der rothrückige Würger, BECHSTEIN.
This pretty species seems to form a connecting link between the pies and
the singing birds, so much does it resemble the latter in its different
qualities. Its length is a little more than six inches, of which the
tail measures three and a quarter. The wings, when folded, cover one
third. The beak is black, and the iris of the eyes light brown; the
legs, bluish black.
In the male, the head, the nape of the neck, the tail coverts, and the
thighs, are grey. This colour is lighter on the forehead and above the
eyes. A black band extends from the nostrils to the ears. The beak and
wing coverts are of a fine red brown; the rump and under part of the
body white, slightly tinged with pink on the breast, sides, and belly;
the centre tail feathers are entirely black, the others white at the
tip.
The colours in the female differ considerably from those of the male.
All the upper part of the body is dirty reddish brown, slightly shading
into grey on the upper part of the neck and rump; there is a scarcely
visible shade of white on the back and shoulders; the forehead and above
the eyes is yellowish, the cheeks brown, the throat and belly dirty
white; the under parts of the neck, breast, and sides, are yellowish
white, crossed with waving brown lines; the quill feathers are dark
brown, the outer ones edged with white, the others to the four centre
ones have only a white spot; the tail dark brown, with some shades of
orange.
HABITATION.--When wild it is one of the latest birds of passage, as it
does not arrive till May. It is sometimes found in woody valleys
where cattle graze, more commonly in hedges, and fields with bushes
in them, or in inclosed pastures where horses and cows are kept. It
is one of the first migratory birds to depart, which it does in
August, in families, even before the young ones have moulted.
In the house, it must be treated like the former, and kept in a wire
cage, for it would soon kill its companions, as I experienced some
years ago. The bird I refer to had been three days without eating,
although I had given him a great variety of dead birds and insects.
On the fourth day I set him at liberty in the room, supposing him too
weak to hurt the other birds, and thinking that he would become
better accustomed to his new food if I left him at liberty. Hardly
was he set free than he seized and killed a dunnock before I had time
to save it; I let him eat it, and then put him back into the cage.
From this time, as if his fury were satisfied, he ate all that was
given him.
FOOD.--In its wild state, it eats large quantities of beetles,
maybugs, crickets, and grasshoppers, but it prefers breeze-flies, and
other insects which teaze the cattle. It impales as many of these
insects as it can catch for its meal on the thorns of bushes. If,
during a long continuance of rain, these insects disappear, it then
feeds on field-mice, lizards, and young birds, which it also fixes on
the thorns.
When confined, its food is the same as the preceding species. Some
insects, mixed with the nightingales' paste, make it more palatable
for it. A little raw or dressed meat may also be given it from time
to time.
BREEDING.--When the season is favourable this species breeds twice,
and generally chooses a large hawthorn bush in which to build its
nest, roots and coarse stubble forming the base of it, then a layer
of moss interwoven with wool, and the finest fibres of roots lining
the interior. The female lays from five to six greenish white eggs,
spotted all over, especially at the large end, and speckled with red
and grey; the male takes his turn with the female to sit during
fourteen days. Before moulting, the young ones resemble the female in
colour. The back and breast are greenish grey, streaked with several
waving brown lines; the belly is dirty white. They can be easily
reared by feeding them at first with ants' eggs, then with dressed
meat, and afterwards with white bread soaked in milk: this last food
it always likes if early accustomed to it.
MODE OF TAKING.--As soon as this bird arrives in May, the bushes on
which it most frequently perches must be observed; these are very
few, and on them the lime twigs must be placed; it is often entrapped
within a quarter of an hour. Success is more certain if a beetle,
maybug, or breeze-fly, be fastened near the lime twigs with horse
hair, by two feet, so that it can move its wings. As soon as the bird
is stuck in the bird-lime it is necessary when taking it to avoid its
beak, as it pecks very hard.
ATTRACTIVE QUALITIES.--This bird does not rank low among the singers;
its song is not only very pleasing but continual. While singing, it
is generally perched on a lonely bush, or on the lower branches of a
tree, but always near its nest. Its warbling is composed of the songs
of the swallow, goldfinch, fauvette, nightingale, red-breast, and
lark, with which, indeed, it mixes here and there some of its own
harsh notes. It almost exclusively imitates the birds in its
immediate neighbourhood; it very rarely repeats the song or call of
those which merely fly past it; when it does, it seems only in
mockery. There are, however, some songs which it cannot imitate: for
instance, that of the chaffinch and yellowhammer, its throat not
seeming to be sufficiently flexible for these. In the house, its song
is composed of the warbling of those birds whose cages are hung near
it. It is very lively, and its plumage is handsome.
If a room is to be cleared of flies, one of these birds set at
liberty in it will soon effect it; it catches them flying with great
skill and agility. When a thorny branch is given it, it impales all
its flies, making at the same time the drollest and most singular
movements. This species easily and quickly learns to whistle airs,
but it forgets them with the same facility, in order to learn new
ones.