THE WHITE-RUMPED SHRIKE. 171 



strongly characterized nest of sticks, coarse weeds, rootlets, 

 shreds of bark, woody fibers, dried grasses, thread, wool, 

 and feathers, the lining consisting particularly of the last- 

 mentioned items. The whole structure is bulky and ragged, 

 the rim being so thick, loose and irregular as almost to 

 hide the eggs, which may be partially buried in the care- 

 lessly-arranged lining. The eggs, 5 or 6, about 1.00 x To 

 are dull white, spotted with greenish-gray or brown, and a 

 more neutral tint of lilac-gray. The nest may be placed in 

 a solitary tree of the open field, or in the thick part of the 

 hedge. Having taken a nest with 6 fresh eggs on the 28th 

 of April, by the end of the first week in May another had 

 been built and contained 3 eggs. 



During the breeding season the male may be frequently 

 seen perched on the fence by the road-side. This is almost 

 a silent bird, the male occasionally uttering a loud peemp^ 

 peemp^ in the mating period, and the female uttering a pro- 

 longed guttural squeak when startled from her nest. The 

 latter resembles a weaker note of the Vireos, uttered under 

 like circumstances. 



The young Shrikes resemble their parents, except that the 

 colors are not so pure and bright, and they have a light- 

 brownish wash across the breast, in which, as also in the ashen- 

 gray of the upper parts, there is a fine, dark cross-penciling. 



The White-rumped Shrike leaves us late in the fall. 



The Shrikes are a strange family of birds. With the bill 

 and head of a Falcon, the mouth-bristles of a Flycatcher, 

 the feet and laryngeal muscles of a song-bird, the dietetic 

 habits of a Hawk, and, in the case of our American species, 

 the color of the Mockingbird, ornithologists have been 

 much puzzled as to their place in classification. In the 

 latest American works, they rank between the VireonidcE 

 and the Friii<^illidce.. 



