butcherbird

Reader's Digest 7月号の定番記事 Smart Animalsから引用します。
We usually feed our wild birds with oats and bits of chicken skin at mealtime. Last spring, while lunching on our deck, one cheeky butcherbird stole a hard, crusty corner off my husband's lunchtime pie. The bird couldn't break it up so tried to swallow it whole. The crust got stuck on the way down and we could see it protruding from the poor bird's mouth.
No matter how many times the bird shook and banged his beak on the table it would not dislodge from his beak. Perhaps sensing our concern for him, the bird flew off the deck, landed on the nearby birdbath and dipped his beak in the water several times.
A few gulps and the dry pastery went straight down. With this, the bird shook his head, took another drink then came back looking for more! My throat was sore just thinking about it, but it didn't faze this smart little cookie.
さて "butcherbird" がどんな鳥か気になります。
・Oxford English Dictionary:
1. A shrike (family Laniidae) that impales its prey on thorns.
2. A crowlike predacious Australasian songbird, with a heavy hook-tipped bill.
1.の鳥 "shrike" の習性は日本のモズを連想します。調べると日本のモズの英語名は "bull-headed shrike" と言うそうだ。