twelve months. It became very tame, and would readily take its food
from my hands. When a bird was given it, it invariably broke the
skull, and generally ate the head first. It sometimes held the bird in
its claws, and pulled it to pieces in the manner of hawks, but seemed
to prefer forcing part of it through the wires, then pulling at it. It
always hung what it could not eat up on the sides of the cage. It
would often eat three small birds in a day. In the spring it was very
noisy, one of its notes a little resembling the cry of the kestrel."
It is a cunning as well as a bold bird. It is said that by imitating
the notes of some of the smaller birds it calls them near it, and then
pounces upon some deluded victim. The shrike is used by falconers
abroad for trapping falcons; "it is fastened to the ground, and by
screaming loudly gives notice to the falconer, who is concealed, of
the approach of a hawk." You will notice in any picture of a shrike
how admirably adapted is its curved beak for butchering purposes. The
red-backed shrike "frequents the sides of woods and high hedgerows,
generally in pairs, and may frequently be seen perched on the
uppermost branch of an isolated bush, on the look out for prey. The
males occasionally make a chirping noise, not unlike the note of the
sparrow." It also imitates the voice of small birds. Mr. Yarrell says
"the food of the red-backed shrike is mice, and probably shrews, small
birds, and various insects, particularly the common May-chaffer. Its
inclination to attack and its power to destroy little birds has been
doubted; but it has been seen to kill a bird as large as a finch, and
is not unfrequently caught in the clap-nets of London bird-catchers,
having struck at their decoy-birds;" and Mr. Hewitson says--"Seeing a
red-backed shrike busy in a hedge, I found, upon approaching it, a
small bird, upon which it had been operating, firmly fixed upon a
blunt thorn; its head was torn off, and the body entirely plucked."

"What an amazing quantity of little lady-bird beetles there are on
this hedge-bank," said May. "The ground is almost red with them." Yes,
it is a very common, but very pretty species. You see there are seven
black spots on its red wing-covers, three on each, arranged
triangularly, and one at the top of the wing-covers, just at the point
where they meet. "Are these insects injurious, papa?" asked Willy;
"you say there are so many insects that are. I do hope the little
lady