116 BULLETIN 19 7, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



black." And he adds that the young bird frequently loses, at this 

 molt, "large, but often irregular, areas of the brown first fall plum- 

 age from the back, head, and shoulders." 



Dr. Dwight (1900) says that the adult winter plumage is acquired 

 by a complete postnuptial molt, which Dr. Miller (1931) says occurs 

 in July and August, "perhaps also early September." According 

 to Dr. Dwight, this adult winter plumage differs from the first winter' 

 plumage "in having a white wing band on the greater coverts, the 

 tertiaries and secondaries with white edgings, the wings and tail jet- 

 black, including all the coverts. The back is grayer without the 

 brownish tint of the young bird." 



The above remarks apply to the male; in the female the sequence of 

 molts and plumages is the same. Ridgway ( 1904:) says that the young 

 female, in first winter plumage, is "similar to the young male of cor- 

 responding season but browner, the color of upper parts approaching 

 Isabella color, the scapulars, lower rump, and upper tail-coverts 

 washed with cinnamon-buff, under parts more or less washed with the 

 same, especially on sides and flanks, greater wing-coverts edged with 

 the same, and white at tips of secondaries and rectrices more or less 

 buffy." In the adult female, the gray of the upper parts is less pure 

 than in the male, darker and more or less tinged with olive, the black 

 of the wings and tail is duller, and the white markings are more re- 

 stricted. 



Food.— Dr. Sylvester D. Judd (1898) writes of the food of the 

 northern shrike: "During its winter sojourn it renders a threefold 

 service by killing grasshoppers, English sparrows, and mice. The 

 birds and mice together amount to 60 percent, and insects to 40 per- 

 cent, of the food from October to April. Grasshoppers constitute 

 one-fourth of the food, and are equal to twice the combined amounts 

 of beetles and caterpillars. * * * jj^ ^]^g stomachs of the 67 

 butcherbirds examined 28 species of seed-eating birds were found. 

 Of these 3 were tree sparrows, 5 juncos, and 7 English sparrows; the 

 others could not be determined with certainty." 



In the early days of the English sparrow in this country, while 

 they were being protected, northern shrikes became so abundant on 

 Boston Common that men were employed to shoot them, lest they de- 

 stroy the sparrows. In this connection, Dr. Judd remarks : "It is to 

 be hoped that in other cities this enemy of tlie sparrow will be pro- 

 tected instead of persecuted. If there were 6 butcherbirds in each 

 of 20 New England cities, and each butcherbird killed 1 sparrow a 

 day for the three winter months, the result would be a removal of 

 10,800 sparrows. Since two sparrows could raise under favorable 

 conditions four broods of 5 each, the increase would be tenfold, so 

 that those destroyed by the butcherbirds, if allowed to live, would 



