504 



MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 



At Greenville, Montcalm county, the late 

 Percy Selous recorded a nest with eggs April 

 23, 1894, the young becoming full-fledged on 

 May 25, while the same pair (presumably) 

 brought out a second brood on July 26. Dr. 

 Gibbs records fresh eggs from Kalamazoo county 

 April 18, 1878, April 27 and 30, 1879, and 

 others were obtained on Mav 18, 1880, and June 

 22, 1878. The late Richard B. Westnedge, of 

 Kalamazoo, took six eggs from a nest May 26, 

 1888, and six from another nest June 5, 1892. 

 In that part of the state the nests seem to be 

 placed as often in osage orange hedges and 

 neglected orchard trees as in thorn trees. The 

 eggs vary in number from five to eight, but 

 are ordinarily six or seven, and are hardly 

 separable, except by size, from those of the 

 Northern Shrike already described. The average given by Ridgway for 

 the typical Loggerhead, the southern form, is .97 by .73 inches, but speci- 

 mens of migrans; in the college collection average nearly 1.00 by .75 inches. 



Vv 



Fig. 131. 

 Tail of Migrant Shrike. 



TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 



Bill .strongly hooked, wing less than four inches, tail shorter than wing, third and fourth 

 primaries about equal, the third u.sually a little longest. 



Adult (sexes essentially alike): Upper parts ash-gray to blue-gray, usually paler 

 (sometimes wliitish) on rump and upper tail-coverts; forehead commonly paler than the 

 crown; under parts mainly pale ash-gray, deeper (almost the shade of the back) on chest 

 and sides; throat and belly nearly or quite white; markings of head, wings and tail, anil 

 colors of bill, feet and iris, precisely as in the Loggerhead; the young also are similar to those 

 of that species. 



Length 8 to 10 inches; wing of male 3.75 to 3.99, of female 3.80 to 3.88; tail of male 

 3.60 to 3.90, of female 3.60 to 3.78; culmen about .53 (Wm. Palmer). 



Family 61. VIREONID.E. Vireos or Greenlets. 



A small family of interesting and valuable ])irds, represented in Mich- 

 igan by half a dozen species wh'ch are so similar in size, coloi', voice and 

 habits as to be readily confused liy the beginnei-. Tlu^ following key 

 will help to separate them: 



KEY TO SPECIES. 



A. With a spurious (i. e. small, almost rudimentary) first i)i'imary. B, BB. 



B. White wing-bars conspicuous, sides and flanks bright yellow. G, VV. 



G. Lores white and a white ring around the eye. Blue-headed 



Vireo. No. 259. 

 (,'G. Lores and eye-ring vellow (iris white). White-eved Vireo. 

 No. 260. 

 BI?. White wing-bars indistinct or lacking, sides and flanks nearly 

 white or barely yellowish. Warbling Vireo. No. 257. 



