Butch'er-bird, n.

(18), n. (Ornith.) A bird of different species of the family Lanius.

☞ The Lanius excubitor is the common butcher-bird of Europe. Among the American species there are the L. septentrionalis, or northern butcher-bird, and L. Ludovicianus, that of Louisiana and the other Southern States. The name butcher-bird is also applied to the king-birds or species of Tyrannus, of which the T. intrepidus is a common American species. The Lanius excubitor derives its name of butcher-bird from the habit it has of suspending its prey, after it has killed it, impaled upon thorns, hanging it up as a butcher does his meat. Baird.