Shrike SONG-BIRDS. 



not a single White-eyed Vireo was found among them. It 

 is at times noisily talkative, and prefers the tangle to the 

 tree-tops, managing, however, to give great expression to its 

 simple song; sometimes scolding and arguing, and then 

 dropping voice, as if talking to itself. 



Without having the imitative and ventriloquistic powers 

 of the Chat, you cannot fail to be reminded of that exasper- 

 ating gamin when the White-eyed Vireo, ambushed in some 

 blackberry tangle and trembling for the safety of his nest, 

 undertakes to give you a piece of his mind. 



FAMILY LANIID^: SHRIKES. 

 Northern Shrike: Lanius borealis* 



Butcher-bird. 



Plate 21. 



Length: 9-10.50 inches. 



Male and Female: Powerful head, neck, and blackish beak with 

 hooked point. Above bluish ash, lighter on the rump and 

 shoulders. Wide black bar on each side of head from the eye 

 backward. Below light gray with a brownish cast, broken on 

 breast and sides by waved lines of darker gray. Wings aoid 

 tail black, edged and tipped with white. Large white spot on 

 wings, white tips and edges to outer quills of tail. Legs bluish 

 black. 



Song : A call note, and in its breeding-haunts a sweet, warbling song. 



Season : A roving winter resident ; seen from November to April. 



Breeds : North of the United States. 



Nest : In a low bush ; a basis of sticks, upon which is matted and felted 

 a thick, warm superstructure of bark-strip, grass, and soft vege- 

 table substance. (Coues.) 



Eggs : 4-6 ; marblings of reddish brown and purple covering the gray- 

 green ground. 



Bange : Northern North America, south in winter to the middle por- 

 tions of the United States (Washington, D.C., Kentucky, 

 Kansas, Colorado, Arizona, northern California). 



The Northern Shrike, though somewhat irregular in its 

 comings and goings, is always present in varying numbers 

 as a winter resident. In common with all winter birds, its 



122 



