WESTERN BIRDS Shrikes 



GENUS LANIUS. 

 FAMILY— LANIIDiE: SHRIKES. 



OuB Shrikes, or Butcher-birds, though not listed as 

 birds of prey, have large, powerful, hooked bills, not 

 unlike that of a Hawk. Though they lack the talons 

 with which to hold their prey as they pull it to pieces, 

 they have a way of driving their catch, be it mouse, or 

 large insect, into a crevice or fork of a tree, and in that 

 way securing it. If the catch is small, yet too large 

 to swallow, it is held under the foot while picked apart. 



The favorite way of sighting its prey is to perch on 

 some telephone pole, wire, post, or bare limb, rather 

 than by hovering in the air as do the true birds of prey. 

 When a tempting tidbit is sighted the bird flies down, 

 seizes it in its bill, and returns to its outlook. Nearly 

 always in open, treeless country these birds are to be 

 seen patiently watching. Oftentimes they are the one 

 bit of bird life in the landscape. Their wings are short, 

 and their flight, though straight and unwavering, is 

 seldom long, or high in the air. They seem rather to 

 guard the ground, diving down from their perch to a few 

 feet from the earth before they start on their flight. 



One habit they all have" when food is abundant, of 

 storing their catch for future consumption on thorns, 

 sharp twigs, or barbs of wire fences. Seldom do the birds 

 eat all this "jerked" food. Seemingly, they hunt for the 

 mere joy of it and, not being hungry, hang it up for 

 future use. 



While the normal food of Loggerhead Shrikes is in- 

 sects, they sometimes indulge in mice and birds. One 



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