SHRIKES 391 



dignified presence. Though so reserved in bearing he is full of 

 vivacity and song, and will sometimes dart up in the air and come 

 down singing. 



His sallies often appear to be made for insects, being in regular 

 kingbird manner, and at times in southern California when the 

 brush is full of millers, the birds seem to be catching them. But 

 berries are their ordinary food, the mistletoe, pepper, and juniper 

 being prime favorites. 



In the breeding season in leaving the trees to go back to their 

 nesting grounds, they often rise obliquely for perhaps a hundred 

 feet and then fly on evenly straight to their destination, though 

 sometimes while flying level and high they change their course by 

 odd, sudden jerks. When near the nest the male often closes his 

 wings and shoots obliquely "down with tilting tail. 



About the nest the birds have a variety of notes. The commonest, 

 which resembles the call of a young robin, is given by both male 

 and female, with a flash of the tail. The male has also a scold, a 

 meadowlark-like note, and a harsh alarm-call drawn out like ca-rack 

 or ca-rac-ack. His ordinary song, though with weak, squeaky 

 notes, has phrases of rich quality suggesting the o-ka-lee of the red- 

 wing ; and taken as a whole, jumbled notes, flutelike tones, musical 

 outbursts, and all, the song is most pleasing because of its vivacity 

 and brightness. 



The nests of the few individuals I have watched were built mainly 

 by the males, the females of a brush patch going off by themselves 

 while their lords worked at home. 



FAMILY LANIIDiE: SHRIKES. 



GENUS LANIUS. 



General Characters. — Bill larg-e and powerful, notched, toothed, and 

 hooked ; wing- with ten primaries ; wing- and tail rounded ; feet large and 

 strong ; tarsus distinctly scaled. 



KEY TO ADULTS. 



Fig. 482. 



1. Lores and nasal tufts never wholly black .... borealis, p. 392. 



1'. Lores and nasal tufts always wholly black. 



2. Under parts pure white ....... excubitorides, p. 392. 



2'. Under parts dull white, grayisli, or brownish, often finely barred with 

 grayish. 



3. Upper parts tinjred with brownish gambeli. p, 393. 



3'. Upper parts dark slate gray authouyi. p. 393. 



