COLLURIO LUDOVICIANUS VAR. EXCUBITOROIDES. 



1U5 



(??) Lanius elegans, Sw., F. B. A. ii, 1831, 122 {said to ie from the fur couutries ; origin;il 

 speciiJieii ideutified by Dreatier and Sharpe (P. Z. S. It70, 595) as belonging to 

 C. lalitoru of Asia and Africa). 



Lanius eUtianx, Nt rr., Man. i, 2d ed. 1810, 267.— Cass., Pr. Pbila. Acad. 1657, 213.— Bd., 

 B. N. A. 1658, 326, foot-note ; pi. 75, f 1. 



CoUi/rio clet/uns, Bd.. B. N. A. 1858, page xxxv. 



CoU'ttiio clajam, Bd., Rev. 1866, 444.— Coop., B. Cal. i, 1870, 140. 



Lanius mcxicanus, Bkehm, J. f. 0. ii, 1854, 145.— ScL., Cat. Iii62, 46. 



VoUurio ladovicianus var. robustus, Bd., Aui. Nat. vii, 1673, 609 (same specimen as for- 

 merly called C. elegans). — B. B. R., B. N. A. i, 1874, 42U (the same). 



Hah. — Middle Province of North America, to the Saskatcliewan. East through Kan- 

 sas, Iowa, Ohio, Illinois, and Wisconsin, to New York and Canada West, probably into 

 New England. In the Southern States replaced by typical htdorieianus. On the Pacitic 

 coast not observed north of California. South through Mexico. 



List of specimens. 



Lieutenant Warren's Expedition. — 8902-04, Upper Missouri River; 5312, Yellowstone 

 River; 4649, White River; 8601-03, L'eau qui court. 



Later Expeditions. — 60435, La Bonte Creek, Wyoming ; 60768, Pacific Creek, W^yoming ; 

 61752, Utah ; 62271, Idaho. 



As I Stated in the "Key," '' extreme examples of ludovicianus and ex- 

 cuMtoroides look very different, but tiiey are observed to melt into eaeli 

 other when many specimens are comi)ared, so that no specitic ci)aracter 

 can be assigned." The change takes phice in the States just east of the 

 Mississii)pi ; typical ludovicianus I have only seen from the Sonth Atlan- 

 tic States. Whatever the original L. elegans of Swaiusoii may have 

 been, there seems to be little doubt thattlie elegans of Baird and Cooper 

 is the same as the excithiforoides of the same authors. The doubt is, 

 whether the specimen of Dr. Gambel's, marked "California," really came 

 from that State; for some of Gambel's birds so labelled were certainly 

 procured elsewhere (for example, his Tyrannus bairdii, which is a South 

 American si)ecies, the Tyrannus atrifrons of Sclater — a species of Myio- 

 dynasles). The features of this specimeu, if it be really American, may 

 have been individual peculiarities. I consider there is as yet nothing 

 ui)ou which to base the belief that we have more than a single species 

 of Shrike in this country (aside from C. borcalis), and that is C. ludovi- 

 cianus, of which a variety, with the above synonymy, occurs in the re- 

 gions above specified. 



I have not yet met with this bird on the Missouri. Dr. Hayden 

 reports it as being quite abundant, "especially along the Platte to the 

 Laramie ^lountains, JJlack Hills, and Bad Lands. 1 lound it breeding 

 abundantly in Northern J)akota, beyond the Missouri Coteau, securing 

 newly-Hedged young late in .Inly. The nest, just deserted, was placed 

 in a dense thicket, in the crotch of a bush, about live leet from the 

 ground. It was a large, bulky, and inartistic structure, upon a founda- 

 tion, of loosely interlaced twigs, as large as a man's hat. Tlie nest proper 

 was about six inches wide outside, and three deep, composed cuiiiely 

 of tiie stems and tops of a sjieciesot white weed growing in the vicinity, 

 inextricably matted with plaits of librous inner bark ; there was uo 

 special lining or any circular disposition of the material. The nest was 

 very foul with excrement and, ai)[)arently, a scurfy exfoliation from the 

 plumage of the young'. 



Mr. Allen, in the American Naturalist as (pioted, gives the interesting 

 record of the Ijreeding of c.vcuhitoroidcs in New York State. A nest of 

 six eggs were taken in 18GU, near Buffalo, New York. Mr. McUwraith 



