218 BIRDS OF FIELD, FOREST AND PARK 



Canada, wandering southward in winter, some- 

 times as far as Virginia. They are about ten 

 inches in length. 



Loggerhead Shrike. This is a smaller coun- 

 terpart of the Butcher Bird, so nearly like 

 him in plumage that only by close observation 

 can they be distinguished. The breast of the 

 Loggerhead is pure white, or gray, and the black 

 stripes on the side of the head meet on the fore- 

 head. They are one and one-half inches shorter 

 than the Northern Shrike. In feeding and nest- 

 ing habits they are much alike, but the logger- 

 head has not quite so unsavory a reputation 

 regarding the killing of small birds. Yet I feel 

 sure they destroy fledglings and eggs, if not 

 adult birds. 



For several years a pair of these Shrikes 

 nested in a hackmatack tree by the roadside a 

 half mile from our house. The nest, like that of 

 the Blue Jay, was made of twigs and lined 

 with coarse grass, and carefully hidden in a 

 thick clump of limbs. About the first of August 

 the parent birds would appear on our premises 

 and from some exposed perch, the tiptop limb 

 of an apple tree or telephone post, keep watch 

 for passing prey. While I never actually caught 

 them at mischief, I felt that the evidence against 

 them was very^ strong. Early one morning there 

 was an outcry from the Robin's nest in a low 

 elm across the road. On going out we found the 

 nest awry and the eggs gone; the Shrike was 

 seen on a pole not far away. A Song Sparrow 

 built a nest for its second brood in the thick 

 woodbine just over the stable door. The nest 



