Red-backed shrike, butcher bird or flusher with blue, pink and rust colored plumage. Lanius collurio

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Red backed shrike, butcher bird or flusher with blue, pink and rust colored plumage. "It not only feed on insects, but will devour the young of other birds, taking hold of them by the neck and strangling them, then tearing out the eyes, brain, etc. and when satisfied sticks the remainder on a thorn for another meal." Lanius collurio Edward Donovan (1768-1837) was an Anglo-Irish amateur zoologist, writer, artist and engraver. He wrote and illustrated a series of volumes on birds, fish, shells and insects, opened his own museum of natural history in London, but later he fell on hard times and died penniless. Handcolored copperplate engraving from Edward Donovan's "The Natural History of British Birds" (1794-1819)

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Size: 2970px × 5071px
Photo credit: © Florilegius / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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