Page:Natural History, Birds.djvu/134

Rh have rendered a more important service to the falconer, than the capture of small birds, even the capture of the higher kinds of Falcons themselves. Sir John Sebright informs us that the Peregrine Falcon is taken by placing in a favourable situation a small bow-net, so arranged as to be drawn over quickly by a long string that is attached to it. A pigeon of a light colour is tied on the ground as a bait, and the falconer is concealed, at a convenient distance, in a hut made of turf, to which the string reaches. The Lanius excubitor, that is, the Warder Butcher-bird, from the lookout that he keeps for the Falcon, is tied on the ground near the hut; and two pieces of turf are so set up as to serve him, as well for a place of shelter from the weather, as of retreat from the Falcon. The falconer employs himself in some sedentary occupation, relying upon the vigilance of the Butcher-bird to warn him of the approach of a Hawk. This he never fails to do, by screaming loudly when he perceives his enemy at a distance, and by running under the turf when the Hawk draws near. The falconer is thus prepared to pull the net, the moment that the Falcon has pounced upon the pigeon.

The Grey Shrike delights more in parks and cultivated fields, where hedge-rows and clumps of trees abound, than in deep forests, or a very open country. The small birds and quadrupeds, or large insects on which it feeds, are taken by open violence, deprived of life, and then impaled upon some thorn or sharp twig, to be more readily devoured. This habit of hanging up his meat,