Note 519 — LETTER IX.

According to Mr. Heckewelder (Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. iv. 124.) L. Excubitor, called in America the nine-killer, from an idea that it transfixes nine individuals daily, treats in this manner Grasshoppers only; while L. Collurio would seem to restrict itself chiefly to Geotrupes, two of which Mr. Sheppard once observed transfixed in a hedge that he knew to be the residence of this bird. Kugellan even thinks that it impales only G. vernalis, which he has often found transfixed, but never G. stercorarius. (Schneid. Mag. 259.) I must remark, however, that I last summer observed two humble-bees quite alive, impaled on the thorns of a hedge near my house, which had most probably been so placed by this species, L. Excubitor being rarely found except in mountainous wilds. (Bewick's Birds, i. 61.) And Prof. Sander states that on opening this bird (L. Collurio) he has sometimes found in its stomach nothing but grasshoppers, and at others small beetles and other insects. Naturforscher Stk. xviii. 234.