The male shrike, or butcher bird is shown adding a shrew mouse to its food reserve.

It is interesting to note that Ruskin, a subscriber to The Birds of Great Britain remarked that Gould's plates were of great educational value for children, but young minds should be protected from the 'horrible' depiction of the shrike with its victims of a mouse and bluetit impaled on a Blackthorn spike!

DISTRIBUTION: Holarctic, including Palaearctic, northern North America (where called Northern Shrike) and southern Asia. Winters within and south of, the breeding range. Uncommon winter visitor to Britain