TOO 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



outermost shoulder region ; eye region, ear region, and 

 lores, black, forming a conspicuous longitudinal patch 

 on sides of head ;' wings and tail, black: secondaries 

 tipped with white ; entire under parts, including cheek 

 region, white, the sides and flanks faintly shaded with 

 gray; iris, brown; bill, legs, and feet, black. Young: 

 Above, brownish-gray, the crown and hindneck nar- 

 rowly barred with narrow lines of darker gray and 

 broader ones of pale buf¥y or brownish-gray; shoulders, 

 lesser and middle wing-coverts, rump, and upper tail- 

 coverts with more distinct narrow dusky bars and with 

 the paler bars broader, more bufi^y; chest, sides, and 



flanks, pale bufify-grayish narrowly barred with dusky ; 

 bill and feet, brownish ; otherwise similar to adults. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest : Located in thorny trees 

 (hawthorns), hedges, or thickets, usually within lo feet 

 of ground; a large, carelessly constructed atfair of corn 

 stalks, weed stems, coarse grass, roots, paper, and wool 

 and thickly lined with feathers, hair, or wool. Eggs : 

 5 to 7, grayish or creamy-white, thickly and evenly 

 spotted and blotched with dull browns and lavender. 



Distribution. — Coast district of South Carolina and 

 Georgia to southern Florida and westward over the 

 coastal plain of the Gulf States to Louisiana. 



The Loggerhead Shrike is the common Shrike 

 of the southeastern States, and over wide regions 

 of its range it is a very abundant species. These 

 ■" French Mockingbirds," as they are sometimes 

 called, somewhat resemble the famous songster 

 in size and color, but they are very different 

 individuals in habits. When seen the Logger- 

 head is usually occupying a perch on the top of 

 some small tree, stake, telephone pole, or fence 

 post. From this lookout it will fly down now 

 and then and seize the grasshopper, lizard, or 

 baby snake, which its sharp eyes have detected 

 in the grass often at a distance of lOO feet or 

 more. In common with other Shrikes it possesses 

 the habit of iinpaling on thorns or barbed wire 

 such objects of food as it has no immediate 

 use for. My observations have led me to believe 

 that it rarely returns to eat what it has thus 

 cached, unless driven to do so by hunger re- 

 sulting from adverse fortunes of the chase. 

 Undoubtedly the Loggerhead at times pushes its 

 prey on a thorn to help hold it while eating. 

 I once watched one impale a Chipping Sparrow 

 on the sharp splinter of a broken tree and pro- 

 ceed to eat it then and there. 



When approaching its nest this bird flies 

 rapidly with quickly beating wings in a strai,ght 

 line, often sinking to within a few feet of the 

 ground until close to the tree, when with a sharp 

 upward turn it will climb the invisible ladder 

 of the air to its nest. This structtire is an 

 exceedingly compact affair and often contains a 

 thick lining of chicken feathers. The birds make 

 a great outcry when one disturbs the nest, and 

 will pop their bills in a manner that suggests the 

 grinding of teeth in ra.ge. 



In the spring the Loggerhead Shrike often 

 sings, but of all singing birds its musical produc- 

 tion is about the poorest. It consists of a series 

 of squeaky whistles, strangling gurgles, and high 

 pitched pipiiigs, all apparently produced with the 

 greatest effort and labor. The notes are not 

 loud and usually can be heard only a short 



distance. There seems to be no evidence, how- 

 ever, to indicate that the song does not produce 

 the effect for which it is probably designed — that 

 is, discomforting its rival and giving joy to the 

 lady bird of its choice. T. Gilbert Pearson. 



There has been so luuch discttssion of the 

 Shrike's habits and diet that the following obser- 

 vations, concerning a captive Loggerhead, by Dr. 

 Sylvester D. Judd, of the United States Biologi- 

 cal Survey, recorded in- his Birds of a Maryland 

 Farm, are both valuable and interesting: 



" The habit the bird has of impaling prey has 

 been the subject of considerable speculation, some 

 writers maintaining that it gibbets its victims 

 alive for the pleasure of watching their death 

 struggles, and others that it slaughters more game 

 at a time than it can eat and hangs up the surplus 

 to provide against a time of want. This theory 

 of prudent foresight may explain why it kills 

 more gaine than it can eat, but, as the experi- 

 ments showed, it does not touch the real reason 

 why it impales its prey. 



" On the day after the Shrike in question was 

 captured a dead mouse was offered it. The 

 Shrike raised its wings, moved its tail up and 

 down petulantly after the manner of the Phdbe, 

 and then seized the movise and dragged it about 

 for several minutes, trying to wedge it into first 

 one and then another corner of the cage. Failing 

 in this effort, it tried to impale the mouse on the 

 blunt broken end of branch that had been placed 

 in the cage for a perch, but the body fell to the 

 floor. Then it tried to hold the mouse with its 

 feet and tear it to pieces, but its feet were too 

 weak. A nail was now driven into the cage so 

 as to expose the point. Immediately the Shrike 

 impaled its prey, fixing it firmly, and then fell 

 to tearing and eating ravenously. Several days 

 later the nail was removed and a piece of beef 

 was given to the Shrike. By dint of hard work 

 it managed to hold the beef with its feet, so that 

 it could bite off pieces : but it much preferred to 



