162 NORTHERN SHRIKE. 



of tlie woodbine, sour gum, and others being taken in 

 turn. 



In August the "Waxwing shows no mean gifts as a 

 flycatcher, while as a destroyer of the cankerworm he is 

 especially beneficial, repaying us with interest for the 

 fruit he may have appropriated earlier in the season. 



The "Waxwing's wide range and ability to withstand 

 great extremes in temperature are doubtless due to the 

 ease with which it adapts itself to a change in fare. It 

 nests from Yirginia to Labrador, and winters from Massa- 

 chusetts to Costa Rica. 



Shrikes. (Family Laniid^.) 



The marked difference in the temperament of birds is 



emphasized by finding among the song birds, who feed 



Northern Shrike ^^^ fruit, seeds, and insects, a bird who 



Laiiius boreaiis. in liis positioii aud choice of food is 



Plate L\ III. truly hawklike. Shrikes are solitary, 

 never assemblino; in flocks or associatino- with other birds. 

 Their days are days of waiting, varied by a pounce upon 

 some unfortunate field mouse or dash into a flock of un- 

 suspecting Sparrows. But, while they resemble the Hawks 

 in these respects, their manner of capturing their prey dif- 

 fers from that of their larger prototypes. The Shrike 

 has a Hawk's bill but a SpaiTow's foot, and, lacking the 

 powerful talons which make so deadly a weapon, he cap- 

 tures his prey vrith his strong mandibles. Possibly it may 

 be due to his comparatively weak feet that he pursues the 

 singular custom of impaling his prey on some thorn or 

 hanging it from a crotch where he can better dissect it. 



The Shrike, or Butcher-bird, as he is also called, be- 

 longs to a large family, but, with the exception of his 

 smaller cousin the Loggerhead, he is the only one of the 

 two hundred known species found in America. He nests 



