A really beautiful bird
Now , do you know how he came onto being all dressed in black and red ?
Well , it goes all the way back , back to the beginning , when the Great Spirit called all the birds together , so that he could give them their singing voices and coats and colouring . Remember , at that time , all the birds still looked the same , all with dull looking coats .
And so , all the birds were standing in a line , and one by one received their voices and coats . The nightingale was right in front , and he received a beautiful voice . Then the canary , and so on . And all the song-birds received their voices , and the larks , and the sparrows , and the peacock received a beautiful coat , but did not worry too much about a voice , and so on , etc etc .
Now this specific shrike is a very little busybody . Always scratching around in the undergrowth , and is easily side-tracked , so that while standing in line , he saw something interesting to do , and off he went , hopping around , scratching , pecking away and so that eventually , when all the birds had received their " gifts " , he was called to receive his .
But , by the time he arrived back , the Great Spirit had already given out all the voices , except one broken voice . It was quite harsh , with a little " qwip-qwip " type whistling sound , and wasn't very nice at all .
Now , the little shrike was quite sad about this , because he was hoping to be able to sing with the best , but here he only got this horrible sounding voice , and he cried .
And all the coats and beautiful coloured feathers had been handed out , and when the Great Spirit looked in his box , he saw right at the bottom , just two pieces of left-overs . Black and red . And he gave this to the little fellow .
So , that is how the crimson-breasted shrike received his brilliant red and black colouring , and his harsh voice . And to this day , he still goes off into the undergrowth , he is much easier to see and recognise
