SHRIKEvS 



101 



have me do the holding, when it would perch on 

 my wrist and pull off mouthfuls in rapid succes- 

 sion. These experiments indicate that the Shrike 

 is unable to tear to pieces food that is not securely 

 fixed. Hawks can grip their food with their 

 powerful talons and then easily tear it into 

 pieces small enough to be swallowed, but the 

 Shrike's feet have not a sufficiently vigorous 

 clutch to permit this method. 



" A series of experiments in feeding insects tc_i 

 this Shrike was also carried out. If the liird 

 was very hungry it did not impale insects. When 

 offered a grasshopper at such times, it would 

 clutch it with one foot, and, resting the bend of 

 its leg on the perch, bite off mouthfuls and 

 swallow them. W'hen not very hungry it impaled 

 grasshoppers and caterpillars. Such prey as the 

 thousand-legs, centipedes, house flies, and blow- 

 flies, and in a single instance, a mourning-cloak 

 butterfly, it ate at a single gulp, but very large 

 insects, such as tuniblebugs, it always im- 

 paled. . . . 



"A series of experiments with mice, birds, and 

 other vertebrates was also made. When a live 

 mouse was placed in the cage the Shrike gave 

 chase, half running, half flying. It soon caught 

 the animal by the loose skin of the back, but 

 quickly let go because the little rodent turned on 

 it savagely. In the next attack it seized the 

 mouse by the back of the neck and bit through 

 the skull into the base of the brain, causing 

 instant death. ( A Broad-winged Hawk experi- 

 mented with at the same time always killed its 

 victims with its talons, never touching them with 

 its beak until they were dead. ) A honey-locust 

 perch, set with sharp thorns two inches long, had 

 been put into the Shrike's cage, and on this it 

 fixed the mouse, a thorn entering below the 

 shoulder blade and passing out through the 

 breast. Then ( lo a. m.) it ate the brains. At 

 10.30 it picked twenty to thirty mouthfuls of hair 

 from the hind quarters, made incisions and re- 

 moved the skin, and then ate the large muscles. 

 By 1 1 .30 it had devoured the whole body, includ- 

 ing viscera and skin. Several days later the 

 Shrike dispatched a live English Sparrow about 

 as it had the mouse, and impaled the carcass. 

 Then it plucked the breast and ate the pectoral 

 muscles, the lungs, and the heart. Live snakes 

 and lizards were also fed to the Shrike. A toad 

 was put into the cage, and it attacked it, but 

 soon desisted in evident distress, caused prob- 

 ably by the toad's irritating secretions. 



" It disgorged indigestible parts of its food in 

 pellets, after the manner of Hawks and Owls. 

 . . . When vertebrates had been eaten their 



bones were found inside the pellet and the fur, 

 feathers, or scales outside." 



The Migrant, or Northern Loggerhead, Shrike 

 i Laiiiiis liidoz'iciaiuis iiiigraits) is practically 

 identical with the Loggerhead in coloration ; the 

 gray of the upper parts is paler and the under 

 parts are less jnirely white. In proportions, how- 

 ever, it is decidedly different: the bill is much 

 smaller and the tail is shorter than the wing 

 instead of the other wav round. It lirecds from 



V 



I'l'.ot,,[iy Mrs. i\.J Ouusrr C"urtr-,>ol . ,,.l. A-.,,j. Au<l. ,-50C. 



LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE 



When seen, he is generally perched on the top of some small tree, 

 stake, or the like 



northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, south- 

 ern Ontario, southern Quebec, Maine, and New 

 Brunswick south to eastern Kansas, southern 

 Illinois, Kentucky, western North Carolina, and 

 the interior of Virginia. In the winter it is found 

 from southern New England and the Middle 

 States south to Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. 

 This Shrike is sometimes known as the Summer 

 Butcher Bird. (See Color Plate 90.) 



Tile White-rumped Shrike, or Mouse-bird 

 ( Laiiiiis ludovicianns cxciibitorides) is similar 

 to the Migrant .Shrike, but the gray of the upper 

 parts is decidedly paler and changes abruptly to 

 while on the upper tail-coverts ; the white of the 

 under parts is purer: and in size it is a trifle 

 larger. It is found in the arid districts of west- 

 ern North America south into Mexico. 



The California, or Ciambel's, .Shrike ( Lanius 

 ludovicianns gauibcU) is so much like the Mi- 



