ˈbutcher-ˌbird
[f. butcher n. + bird n. (see quot. 1802): Cf. F. bouchari ‘un des noms vulgaires de la pie-grièche.’ Littré.]
A name given to several species of shrike (Laniadæ): Lanius excubitor, L. tertius, L. cinereus, etc.
| 1668 Wilkins Real Char. 146 Lanius or Butcher bird, is of three several kinds. 1674 Ray Eng. Birds Coll. 82 The great Butcher-bird called in the Peak of Derbyshire Wirrangle, Lanius cinereus major. 1679 Plot Staffordsh. (1686) 229 The Butcher-bird or Wierangel, here called the Shreek or French-Pye. 1802 Paley Nat. Theol. xii. 109 The butcher-bird transfixes its prey upon the spike of a thorn, whilst it picks its bones. 1846 Gard. Chron. 517 The red-backed shrike or butcher-bird. |