Shrike
in ornithology, a popular name for any individual of the Laniidæ, applied specially for the last three cen- BULL-HEADED SHRIKE turies to Lanius excubitor, the great gray shrike. The length of the adult male is about 10 inches: pearl gray on upper SHROVE TUESDAY part of body; chin, breast, and abdomen white; tail feathers black, variegated, and tipped with white; a black band crosses the forehead. The lesser gray shrike (L. minor), from eight to nine inches, is an occasional winter visitor.
The red-backed shrike (L. colluris), like L. septentrionalis, is often called the nine killer, and with one or two other small shrikes is sometimes placed in a genus Enneoctonus. Shrikes feed on insects and small birds, and have a remarkable habit of impaling their prey on thorns in the neighborhood of their nests, which may thus be easily discovered. They kill and impale many insects that they do not ea1 they do not eat See BUTCHER BIRD.