March 8—I was thinking of the Shrike this morning in the light of my recent experience with the Geese; and I cannot help feeling how much this bird has been misunderstood. The type of Red-backed Shrike which is common here is very much like the Lanius coliuria of England and similar varieties including Lanius schacht of India. In all these birds the sexes are alike and I find it difficult to distinguish between male and female....except under unusual conditions such as this little story may illustrate. Two Shrikes were in a bare tree in the usual positions: the male on the highest twig and the female a few feet away on a lower branch. (Note that it is unusual to see both together because the birds prefer the evergreen trees where only the mele's head and shoulders can be seen above the foliage). The was giving some vivid impressions of a Hawfinch in full song, not forgetting the nice little trill after each phrase: the female sat quietly below, trying to look as if she liked it, as any good wife would. Finding the two sexes thus easily distinguished, I approached the tree wondering if there were any apparent differences which I had previously overlooked... when the female left her perch and dashed into another tree from which she fetched something in the nature of a beetle or bug of large and fruity proportions....lended back on the same twig as the singing male and jammed it in his beak; whereupon the songster became silent and proceeded to chew the offering with obvious content. Then I knew I was right about the sexes of the two birds, for nobody but a female could think of such a simple way to stop a husband singing. Looked at from another angle the story is also illuminating: Shrikes ate referred. to as heartless, cruel birds; yet here I find them behaving in the most human manner. "Feed the brute" is obviously still the best advice to bird or bride—Es-w.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.