THE BUTCHER BIRD
Sir, —The recent broadcasts by Sir i Robert Vansittart, and his analogy of the Germans to the butcher bird, recalled memories of my early childhood, i Many listeners in New Zealand may not be familiar with the butcher bird, which is the only real songster in the Australian bush. In the early morning his shrill, clear, musical notes could he heard above all the screeching and giggling of magpies, kookaburras, crows, coach birds, cockatoos, and many others which filled the air with a medley of sound. He is a black and white bird about the size of the small gulls seen round the Auckland wharves, and has a long beak uilh a very sharp curved point.. His charms and graces seemed to fascinate the. little leathered friends such as wrens and finches, and then with a sudden attack he snapped their heads oil with his powerful beak. Not only is he a killer by instinct, but he owes his name to the habit of decorating his bower or nesting place with the heads of his little victims, and any other pieces of flesh hung round in a I circle resembling the meat on the ! hooks in a butcher's shop. Forrest Bhowx.
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Bibliographic details
New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23840, 16 December 1940, Page 10
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204THE BUTCHER BIRD New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23840, 16 December 1940, Page 10
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