Re: Herbs to Carns

[freeman@netcom.com (Jay Reynolds Freeman)]

> What about the shrike (butcher bird)?

  Good one!  Some songbirds are insectivores (e.g, warblers) and some are
pretty omnivorous, too, so a shrike may well not be a strict example of the
form sought, but it is certainly an instance of a critter that has relatively
recently acquired structure and behavior appropriate for large-animal
carnivory ("large" in relation to its own size -- shrikes are small compared
to American Robins, and eat things like mice), starting from a creature
that almost certainly did not eat animals nearly that large.

                                                    --  Jay Freeman