LAND BIRDS. 559 



Family 60. LANIID.E. Shrikes or Butcherbirds. 



Birds of about the size and general appearance of a Mockingbird, but 

 with the strongly hooked bill of a hawk. Oui' species are separable as 

 follows: 



KEY TO SPECIES. 



A. Larger, wing over 4.25 inches. Northern Shrike. No. 253. 

 AA. Smaller, wing 4 inches or less. Migrant Shrike. No. 254. 



(Note. — The Loggerhead Shrike and the White-rumped Shrike are so 

 similar to the Migrant Shrike as to be separable only by experts. Both 

 have been reported in Michigan, but thus far no unquestionable specimen 

 has been taken. See Appendix.) 



253. Northern Shrike. Lanius borealis Vieill. (621) 



Synonyms: Great Northern Shrike, Winter Shrike, Butcher Bird, Winter Butcher 

 Bird. — Lanius excubitor, Forst., 177L — Lanius borealis, Vieill., 1807, and many other 

 writers.— CoUyrio borealis, Baird, 1858.— Collurio borealis, Baird, 1866, B. B. & R., Coues, 

 Ridgw. and others. 



A bird about the size of a Robin, with bill notched and hooked Uke a 

 falcon's, must be a shrike and will have clear gray or brownish-gray upper 

 parts, ashy or white under parts, wings and tail mainly black with large 

 white patches, and a conspicuous black bar or stripe on the side of the 

 head. If the wings measure 4J inches or more it will be the Northern 

 Shrike or Butcher Bird; if the wing is but 4 inches or less it will be the 

 Loggerhead or one of its varieties. In the Northern Shrike the breast 

 and belly are ashy, usually marked with fine, dark, wavy cross-lines. 



Distribution. — ^Northern North America, south in winter to the middle 

 portions of the United States. Breeds north of the United States. 



This bird is a not uncommon, but rather irregular, winter visitor from the 

 north, arriving sometimes as early as October, more often not until Novem- 

 ber, and lingering until March. While with us it is most likely to be seen 

 in the neighborhood of towns and villages in pursuit of English Sparrows, 

 or engaged in tearing out the brains of one which it has just caught and the 

 body of which it will immediately afterward hang up on a sharp twig, the 

 thorn of a haw, or the point of a barbed-wire fence. Occasionally when 

 driving we see it perched on the telephone wire, and while watching for its 

 prey it commonly selects the top of a bare tree, or at least some conspicuous 

 point which overlooks the neighborhood. It flies with an undulating 

 motion, somewhat like a woodpecker, generally gliding downward from 

 its perch and crossing a field quite close to the earth, rising suddenly to 

 the top of a bush or tree on which it perches. 



It feeds largely on meadow-mice and small birds, often following a flock 

 of Tree Sparrows or Juncos and killing many more than it needs for food. 

 Of late years it has l)een quite serviceable in destroying English Sparrows, 

 and in the parks of numy large cities it has been carefully protected on 

 this account. The habit of impaling its prey upon a sharp point is common 

 to all members of the family and has never received a satisfactory ex- 



