Born on March 25, 1810, Francis Orpen Morris was an Anglo-Irish parson-naturalist and author of many books on natural history and heritage buildings, plus some for children. He was a pioneer of the movement to protect birds from the plume trade and was a co-founder of the Plumage League. He died on February 10, 1893 and is buried at Nunburnholme in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Below is an extract from his account in A History of British Birds of the Great Grey Shrike, both in the wild and in confinement.
The Great Grey Shrike us is found in Denmark, Russia, Norway, Sweden, Lapland, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Holland and other countries of Europe, as also in all the temperate parts of North America.
In England, specimens have been procured in Yorkshire (one on April 18, 1849), Cumberland, Northumberland, Durham, Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Worcestershire, Dorset Devonshire, Wiltshire, Sussex, Surrey, Cheshire, Essex, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Bedfordshire, Warwickshire and Kent.
In Ireland, in the counties of Down, Antrim, Sligo, Londonderry, Westmeath, Dublin, Tipperary, Waterford, Cork and the Queen's County.
A few have been met with in Scotland.
In the Orkney and Shetland Islands, it has hitherto been non inventus.
This species is sufficiently scarce in this country to make it a valuable addition to a collection; and at the same time not so extremely rare as to render its acquisition almost hopeless.
It frequents groves and forests, wooded hedgerows and parks.
During migration it may be seen perched upon some hillock or hovering in the air, then descending in pursuit of its prey when discovered within reach.
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| F.O. Morris - parson-naturalist and author |
These birds may be readily tamed, even if captured when adult, and will come to a call.
When in confinement, they follow out their natural bent, adapted to the circumstances they are in, affixing their prey between the wires of the cage, doing so from evident choice that they may pull it from between them, and leaving it there when they do not require it for immediate consumption.
"This bird," says William Yarrell, "is used by falconers abroad during autumn and winter when trapping falcons.
The shrike is fastened to the ground, and, by screaming loudly, gives notice to the falconer, who is concealed, of the approach of a hawk.
It was on this account, therefore, called 'excubitor' - the 'sentinel.'
Mr. Knapp, the author of the excellent Journal of A Naturalist, notes that it seldom conceals itself in a bush, but sitting perched on some upper spray, in an open situation, heedful of danger or watching for its prey.
Another author relates that, in Russia, it is trained to catch small birds, and is valuable for its destruction of rats and mice.
It is a very courageous bird, attacking fearlessly those that are much its superior in size, even eagles, it is said, and will not allow a hawk, Carrion Crow or Magpie to approach its nest with impunity.
Bishop Stanley, having kept one awhile in confinement, was soon glad to get rid of it as the sound of its voice at once hushed to silence the notes of his choir of birds.
Their antipathy when at large is shown at times by teasing it in concert, as they do an owl, though at other times they surround him without any apparent fear.
Montagu, who kept several, found that at the end of two months they lose the affection for each other which they seem to exhibit in the wild state, and quarrel and fight even until one is slain.
The flight of this species is interrupted and irregular.
When perched, the tail is in constant motion.
Its food consists of shrews and mice, small birds and occasionally even Grey Partridges, Fieldfares and other larger birds, lizards, frogs, as also the larger insects and grasshoppers.
They are said to resort to the same thorn on which to fasten their captures.
In carrying a mouse or a bird some distance, they have been seen to shift it alternately from the bill to the mouth, as an alleviation of the weight.
In the spring they are noisy. It is said that they imitate the notes of small birds for the purpose of luring them to their destruction, but I cannot myself entertain this supposition.
Meyer says the call of this bird sounds like the words "hack, shack", while "truewee" is one of its spring notes; it is also said to sing very pleasingly a sort of warbling song.'
Mr. Knapp says that these birds breed annually near his residence, in the neighbourhood of Thornbury which, I believe, is in Gloucestershire;
The Rev. N. Constantine Strickland says it also nests at the foot of the Prestbury hills, near Cheltenham.
Lewin has said that he had seen them in Wiltshire and had no doubt of their breeding there.
While the hen is sitting, the male is very vociferous if any one approaches the nest, and, when the young are hatched, both exhibit a clamorous anxiety which often defeats their object by betraying their callow brood to the callous bird-nester.
The young indeed themselves join in the untoward imprudence.
The nest is built in trees, hedges or bushes some height above the ground.
It is large and ill-concealed, but well put together and is composed of grass, hay, small roots, stalks, and moss, then lined with wool or down.
The eggs are four or five, but sometimes, it is said, as many as six or seven.
They are of a greyish, bluish or yellowish white ground colour, spotted at the thicker end with different shades of grey and light brown, forming an irregular band.
