LAND BIRDS. 563 



254. Migrant Shrike. Lanius ludovicianus migrans W. Palmer. (622c) 



Synonyms: White-rumped Shrike (in part), Loggerhead Shrike (part), Butcher-bird, 

 Summer Butcher-bird. — Lanius lud. migrans, Palmer, 1898. — Lanius excubitroides, 

 Peabody, 1839. — L. excubitoroides, Hoy, 1853. — Lanius ludovicianus, Woodh., 1853, 

 and most authors from 1875 to 1898. — CoUurio ludoviciamis, Allen, Ridgw., Merriam, 

 and others. 



Plate LVI and Figures 130,' 131. 



Known by its close resemblance to the Northern Shrike, but smaller 

 (wing 4 inches or less) ; under parts grayish-white to pale bluish-ash, 

 usually without any wavy cross lines. The wings are slightly longer than 

 the tail. 



Distribution. — Eastern Canada and eastern United States, west to 

 Minnesota, south to the Carolinas, Tennessee and low^er Mississippi Valley. 

 Breeds chiefly in the northern parts of its range, migrating south in winter. 



Reports from observers would indicate that the Migrant Shrike arrives 

 in Michigan from the south between the middle of March and the middle 

 of April and retires southward again during 

 October. Although nowhere abundant it is 

 widely distributed throughout the state and 

 probably occurs regularly in every county. It is 

 a typical roadside bird, and along country roads, „ ~ _^^~ 



where clumps of hawthorn (Cratcegus) abound, it pj^ ^^q 



is sure to be seen at intervals perched on the biii of Migrant shrike. 

 telephone wire or some tall bush or tree, or winging 



its leisurely, looping flight across the adjoining fields. Its plumage 

 always suggests that of the Mockingbird, but its habits and general 

 appearance are widely different. 



It nests early, often before the middle of April, building its bulky nest 

 usually in the interior of a thick thorn bush, where it can be reached by 

 the average small boy only with the utmost diflSculty. Being generally 

 considered a "Butcher Bird" and destructive of other birds, it is held to be 

 legitimate prey and is often shot on sight and its nest destroyed whenever 

 opportunity offers. This may account for the fact that although it rears 

 two broods, often with six or seven eggs in each nest, it nevertheless remains 

 a somewhat scarce bird. 



As a matter of fact the Migrant Shrike is probably one of our decidedly 

 beneficial birds. It feeds very largely — almost entirely — on insects, 

 varying its diet occasionally with field mice or meadow-mice, and still 

 more rarely with a sparrow, not infrequently an English Sparrow. The 

 insects which it devours probably are not all injurious, yet many of them 

 belong to the more injurious groups. Its habit of impaling its surplus 

 food on the thorns in the vicinity of its nest allows us to judge somewhat 

 of the character of this food. Most often we find large beetles, such as 

 May-beetles, goldsmith-beetles and stag-beetles, together with large 

 grasshoppers, the Carolina locust, and an occasional cicada. Sometimes 

 it catches a small snake, a frog or a lizard, but the greater part of its food 

 certainly consists of insects. The late Dr. Judd of the U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture, Washington, D. C, found by stomach examinations that about 

 24 per cent of the food of the Loggerhead (and its varieties) consists of 

 mice and birds, and the remainder of insects, mostly grasshoppers, although 

 cater[)ilhirs are eaten to some extent (Biol. Survey, P>ull. !), LS98, 15-'2()). 



