No. 20.] THE BIRDS OF CONNECTICUT. 34I 



of the latter was made up of blackberries and raspberries, and 

 it is very doubtful whether they represented cultivated varieties. 

 Cherry stealing is the chief complaint against this bird; but of 

 the 152 stomachs only 9, all taken in June and July, contained 

 any remains of cultivated cherries, and these aggregate but 5 

 per cent of the year's food. As 41 stomachs were collected in 

 those months, it is evident that the birds do not live to any great 

 extent on cultivated cherries. 



" Although the cherry bird is not a great insect destroyer, 

 it does some good work in this way, since it probably rears its 

 young mostly upon insect food. On the other hand, it does not 

 devour nearly as much cultivated fruit as has been asserted, and 

 most if not all of the damage can be prevented. The bird should 

 therefore be considered a useful species, and as such should be 

 accorded all possible protection." (Beal, " Some Common Birds 

 in their Relation to Agriculture.") 



SHRIKES. 

 Laniidcr. 



The only Shrike at all common with us is the Northern 

 Shrike or Butcher-bird (Lanius borealis), and that occurs only 

 in winter. The Migrant Shrike (Lanius ludovicianus migrans), 

 a variety of the Loggerhead, is known only as a rather rare 

 migrant. The name Butcher-bird comes from the habit these 

 birds have of impaling their prey — mice, grasshoppers, or small 

 birds — on a thorn or a sharp twig of a tree. " The food habits 

 of the Shrikes, so far as determined from the examination of 

 155 stomachs, collected during every month of the year, from 

 Saskatchewan to Florida and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, are 

 very similar to those of the Sparrow Hawk; that is to say, the 

 food consists of mice, small birds, and insects, the latter mainly 

 grasshoppers. Both birds are much less insectivorous in cold 

 than in warm weather — the oncoming of winter and consequent 

 increasing scarcity of insects necessitating a change in food. 



" In discussing the insectivorous habits of the Shrike, it is 

 hardly necessary to state that the destruction of grasshoppers is 

 a great service to the farmer. The Shrike also devours a large 

 number of beetles, and often eats caterpillars, wasps, and spiders. 

 Since it takes practically no vegetable food, it cannot injure crops. 



