Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

SHRIKE

Online Encyclopedia

Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 1019 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.

Encyclopedia Home :: SHA-SIV

Spread the word:

del.icio.us it!

SHRIKE , a See also:

BIRD

bird's name, so given by See also:

Turner (1544), but solely on the authority of See also:

Sir See also:

Francis See also:

LOVELL, FRANCIS LOVELL, VISCOUNT (1454-1487)

Lovell, for Turner had seen the bird but twice in See also:

England, though in See also:

Germany often, and could not find anyone else who so called it. However, the word' was caught up by succeeding writers; and, though hardly used except in books—for See also:

BUTCHER

butcher-bird is its See also:

VERNACULAR (Lat. verna, dim. vernaculus, a slave horn in his master's house)

vernacular synonym—it not only retains its first position in See also:

LITERARY

literary See also:

ENGLISH

English, but has been largely extended so as to apply in See also:

general to all birds of the See also:

FAMILY

family Laniidae and others besides. The name Lanius, in this sense, originated with C. See also:

Gesner 2 (1555), who thought that the birds to which he gave it had not been mentioned by the ancients. C. J. Sundevall, however, considers that the Malacocraneus of See also:

Aristotle was one of them, as indeed Turner had before suggested, though repelling the latter's supposition that Aristotle's Tyrannus was another, as well as P. See also:

BELON, PIERRE (1517-1564)

Belon's reference of Collyrion. The See also:

SPECIES

species designated shrike by Turner is the Lanius excubitor of See also:

LINNAEUS

Linnaeus and nearly all succeeding authors, nowadays 3 commonly known as the greater butcher-bird, ash-coloured or See also:

GREAT

great See also:

grey shrike—a bird which visits the See also:

BRITISH

British Islands See also:

PRETTY

pretty regularly, though not numerously, in autumn or See also:

winter, occasion-ally prolonging its stay into the next summer; but it has never been ascertained to breed there, though often asserted to have done so. This is the more remarkable since it breeds more or less commonly on the See also:

CONTINENT (from Lat. continere, "to hold together "; hence " connected," " continuous ")

continent from the See also:

north of See also:

France to within the See also:

ARCTIC (Gr. "ApKroc, the Bear, the northern constellation of Ursa Major)

Arctic Circle. Exceeding a See also:

SONG

song-See also:

THRUSH (A. S. Prysce, Icel. priistr, Norw. Trast, O. H. Ger. Drosce, whence the mod. Ger. prossel, to be compared with the analogous English form Throstle,l now almost obsolete, both being apparently diminutives)

thrush in linear measurements, it is a much less bulky bird, of a pearly grey above with a well-defined See also:

black See also:

BAND

band passing from the forehead to the See also:

EAR (common Teut.; O.E. are, Ger. Ohr, Du. oor, akin to Lat. auris, Gr. ovs)

ear-coverts; beneath it is nearly See also:

white, or—and this is Few birds enjoy such a See also:

WEALTH

wealth of See also:

LOCAL

local names as the shrikes. M.

See also:

ROLLAND, JOHN (fl. 1560)

Rolland (Faun& pop. de la France, ii. 146-151) enumerates up-wards of ninety applied to them in France and See also:

Savoy; but not one of these has any See also:

affinity to our word " shrike." 2 He does not seem, however, to have known that butcher-bird was an English name; indeed it may not have been so at the See also:

time, but subsequently introduced. 3 According to See also:

WILLUGHBY, FRANCIS (1635—1672)

Willughby, See also:

RAE, JOHN (1813-1893)

Rae and Charleton, it was in their See also:

day called in many parts of England " Wierangle " (Ger. Wiirgengel and Wurger, the strangler); but it is hard to see how a bird which few See also:

PEOPLE

people in England could know by sight should have a popular name, though See also:

CHAUCER, GEOFFREY (? 1340-1400)

Chaucer had used it in his Assemblye of Foules.particularly observable in Eastern examples—barred with dusky markings. The See also:

QUILL

quill-feathers of the wings, and of the elongated tail, are variegated with black and white, mostly the former, though what there is of the latter shows very conspicuously, especially at the See also:

BASE

base of the remiges, where it forms either a single or a See also:

double patch. Much smaller than this is the red-backed shrike, L. collurio, the best-known species in Great See also:

BRITAIN (Gr. Hperavuml vi7vot, Bperravia; Lat. Britannia, rarely Britannia)

Britain, where it is a summer visitor, and, though its See also:

DISTRIBUTION (Lat. distribuere, to deal out)

distribution is rather local, it may be seen in many parts of England and occasionally reaches See also:

Scotland. The See also:

COCK, EDWARD (1805-1892)

cock is a sightly bird with his grey See also:

head and See also:

NECK (O. Eng. hnecca; the word appears in many Teutonic languages; cf. Dutch ride, Ger. Nacken; in O. E. the common word was heals; cf. Ger. Hals)

neck, black cheek-band, See also:

CHESTNUT (nux Castanea)

chestnut back and See also:

PALE (through Fr. pal, from Lat. palms, a stake, for paglus, from the stem pag- of pangere, to fix; " pole " is from the same original source)

pale rosy See also:

BREAST (a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. the Ger. Brust, possibly connected with an O. Sax. brustian, to bud)

breast, while the See also:

hen is ordinarily of a dull See also:

brown, barred on the See also:

LOWER

lower plumage. A more highly coloured species is called the woodchat, L. auriculatus or rutilus, with a See also:

bright See also:

bay See also:

CROWN

crown and nape, and the See also:

REST (O. Eng. rest, reste, bed, cognate with other Teutonic forms, e.g. Ger. Rast, Riiste, rest, and probably Gothic Rasta, league, i.e. resting or stopping place)

rest of its plumage black, grey and white. This is an accidental visitor to England, but breeds commonly throughout See also:

EUROPE

Europe. All these birds, with many others included in the genus Lanius, which there is no See also:

ROOM

room here to specify, have, according to their respective See also:

POWER [WILLIAM GRATTAN] TYRONE (1797-1841)

power, the very remarkable See also:

HABIT (through the French from Lat. habitus, from habere, to have, hold, or, in a reflective sense, to be in a certain condition; in many of the English senses the French use habitude, not habit)

habit (whence they have earned their opprobrious name) of catching See also:

INSECTS

insects, frogs, lizards or small birds and mammals, and of spitting them on a See also:

thorn or of fixing them in a forked See also:

BRANCH (from the Fr. branche, late Lat. branca, an animal's paw)

branch, the more conveniently to See also:

TEAR

tear them in pieces and eat them. The shrikes belong to the Passerine family Laniidae, the limits of which are doubtful, but which is divided into five sub-families: Gymnorhininae, Malaconotinae, Pachycephalinae, Laniinae and Prionopinae. The Laniinae or true shrikes occur in the Old and New Worlds, the other sub-families are limited to the Old See also:

WORLD

World.

The shrikes and their immediate See also:

ALLIES, THOMAS WILLIAM (1813-1903)

allies are active and powerful birds, with stout bills often strongly hooked. Their See also:

DIET

diet is chiefly insects and small frogs, lizards, birds and mammals, but they also take seeds and fruits. The " greenlets " of North and See also:

South See also:

AMERICA

America are active and fearless birds, similar in general habits to the Laniidae and formerly regarded as forming a sub-family of that See also:

GROUP

group, but now placed in a See also:

SEPARATE

separate family the Vireonidae. (A.

End of Article: SHRIKE

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.

» Add information or comments to this article.

Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.

Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
SHREWSBURY, JOHN TALBOT, 1ST EARL OF (d. 1453)

[next]
SHRIMP