The Young Voyageurs: Boy Hunters in the North

by Mayne Reid

  CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.

  THE SHRIKE AND THE HUMMING-BIRDS.

  The picturesque scenery of the Elk appeared to be a favourite resortwith the feathered creation. Here our voyageurs saw many kinds ofbirds; both those that migrate into the fur countries during summer, andthose that make their home there in the cold, dark days of winter.Among the former were observed,--the beautiful blue bird of Wilson(_Sialia Wilsoni_) which, on account of its gentle and innocent habits,is quite as much esteemed in America as the "robin" in England. Anotherfavourite of the farmer and the homestead, the purple martin, was seengracefully wheeling through the air; while, among the green leaves,fluttered many brilliant birds. The "cardinal grosbeak" (_Pityluscardinalis_) with his bright scarlet wings; the blue jay, noisy andchattering; the rarer "crossbill" (_Loxia_) with its deep crimsoncolour; and many others, equally bright and beautiful, enlivened thewoods, either with their voice or their gaudy plumage. There was onebird, however, that had neither "fine feathers" nor an agreeable voice,but that interested our travellers more than any of the others. Itsvoice was unpleasant to the ear, and sounded more like the grating of arusty hinge than anything else they could think of. The bird itself wasnot larger than a thrush, of a light grey colour above, whiteunderneath, and with blackish wings. Its bill resembled that of thehawks, but its legs were more like those of the woodpecker tribe; and itseemed, in fact, to be a cross between the two. It was neither thecolour of the bird, nor its form, nor yet its song, that interested ourtravellers, but its singular habits; and these they had a fineopportunity of observing at one of their "noon camps," where they hadhalted to rest and refresh themselves during the hot midday hours. Theplace was on one of the little islets, which was covered with underwood,with here and there some larger trees. The underwood bushes were ofvarious sorts; but close to the spot where they had landed was a largethicket of honeysuckle, whose flowers were in full bloom, and filled theair with their sweet perfume.

  While seated near these, Francois' quick eye detected the presence ofsome very small birds moving among the blossoms. They were at oncepronounced to be humming-birds, and of that species known as the"ruby-throats" (_Trochilus rolubris_), so called, because a flake of abeautiful vinous colour under the throat of the males exhibits, in thesun, all the glancing glories of the ruby. The back, or upper parts,are of a gilded green colour; and the little creature is the smallestbird that migrates into the fur countries, with one exception, and thatis a bird of the same genus,--the "cinnamon humming-bird" (_Trochilusrufus_). The latter, however, has been seen in the Northern regions,only on the western side of the Rocky Mountains; but then it has beenobserved even as far north as the bleak and inhospitable shores ofNootka Sound. Mexico, and the tropical countries of America, are thefavourite home of the humming-birds; and it was, for a long time,supposed that the "ruby-throats" were the only ones that migratedfarther north than the territory of Mexico itself. It is now known,that besides the "cinnamon humming-bird," two or three other speciesannually make an excursion into higher latitudes.

  The "ruby-throats" not only travel into the fur countries, but breed innumbers upon the Elk River, the very place where our travellers nowobserved them.

  As they sat watching these little creatures, for there were several ofthem skipping about and poising themselves opposite the flowers, theattention of all was attracted to the movements of a far different sortof bird. It was that one we have been speaking of. It was seated upona tree, not far from the honeysuckles; but every now and then it wouldspring from its perch, dash forward, and after whirring about for somemoments among the humming-birds, fly back to the same tree.

  At first the boys watched these manoeuvres without having theircuriosity excited. It was no new thing to see birds acting in thismanner. The jays, and many other birds of the fly-catching kind(_Muscicapae_), have this habit, and nothing was thought of it at themoment. Lucien, however, who had watched the bird more narrowly,presently declared to the rest that it was catching the humming-birds,and preying upon them--that each time it made a dash among thehoneysuckles, it carried off one in its claws, the smallness of thevictim having prevented them at first from noticing this fact. They allnow watched it more closely than before, and were soon satisfied of thetruth of Lucien's assertion, as they saw it seize one of theruby-throats in the very act of entering the corolla of a flower. Thisexcited the indignation of Francois, who immediately took up his"double-barrel," and proceeded towards the tree where the bird, asbefore, had carried this last victim. The tree was a low one, of thelocust or _pseud-acacia_ family, and covered all over with great thornyspikes, like all trees of that tribe. Francois paid no attention tothis; but, keeping under shelter of the underwood, he crept forwarduntil within shot. Then raising his gun, he took aim, and pullingtrigger, brought the bird fluttering down through the branches. Hestepped forward and picked it up--not that he cared for such unworthygame, but Lucien had called to him to do so, as the naturalist wished tomake an examination of the creature. He was about turning to go back tocamp, when he chanced to glance his eye up into the locust-tree. Thereit was riveted by a sight which caused him to cry out with astonishment.His cry brought the rest running up to the spot, and they were not lessastonished than he, when they saw the cause of it. I have said that thebranches of the tree were covered with long thorny spikes that pointedin every direction; but one branch in particular occupied theirattention. Upon this there were about a dozen of these spines pointingupward, and upon each spike _was impaled a ruby-throat_! The littlecreatures were dead, of course, but they were neither torn nor even muchruffled in their plumage. They were all placed back upwards, and asneatly spitted upon the thorns as if they had been put there by humanhands. On looking more closely, it was discovered that other creatures,as well as the humming-birds, had been served in a similar manner.Several grasshoppers, spiders, and some coleopterous insects were found,and upon another branch two small meadow-mice (_Arvicolae_) had beentreated to the same terrible death!

  To Basil, Norman, and Francois, the thing was quite inexplicable, butLucien understood well enough what it meant. All these creatures, heinformed them, were placed there by the bird which Francois had shot,and which was no other than the "shrike" (_Lanius_) or "butcher-bird"--aname by which it is more familiarly known, and which it receives fromthe very habit they had just observed. Why it follows such a practiceLucien could not tell, as naturalists are not agreed upon this point.Some have asserted that it spits the spiders and other insects for thepurpose of attracting nearer the small birds upon which it preys; butthis cannot be true, for it preys mostly upon birds that are notinsect-eaters, as the finches: besides, it is itself as fond of eatinggrasshoppers as anything else, and consumes large quantities of theseinsects. The most probable explanation of the singular and apparentlycruel habit of the butcher-bird is, that it merely places its victimsupon the thorns, in order to keep them safe from ground-ants, rats,mice, raccoons, foxes, and other preying creatures--just as a good cookwould hang up her meat or game in the larder to prevent the cats fromcarrying it off. The thorny tree thus becomes the storehouse of theshrike, where he hangs up his superfluous spoil for future use, just asthe crows, magpies, and jays, make their secret deposits in chinks ofwalls and the hollows of trees. It is no argument against this theory,that the shrike sometimes leaves these stores without returning to them.The fox, and dog, as well as many other preying creatures, have thesame habit.

  Wondering at what they had seen, the voyageurs returned to their camp,and once more embarked on their journey.