118 BULLETIN 19 7, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



tit, and robin. Clmrles B. Floyd (1928) adds song, white-tliroated, 

 and fox sparrows and the starling to the list of victims and says : 



Several reports are at hand of unsuccessful attempts to capture "White-breasted 

 Nuthatches, English Sparrows, Downy Woodpeckers, etc. In several cases 

 where a Shrike pursued Nuthatches, the latter escaped capture by entering 

 a hole in a tree or a nesting-box. The Dowuy Woodpecker often out-manoeuvred 

 its pursuer by constantly turning and dodging in the air rather than by flying 

 away in an attempt to escape by speed, as do almost all the other small birds. 

 Twice this winter I have personally watched a Shrike attempt to capture a 

 Downy Woodpecker from above. Each time that the Shrike swooped to strike 

 the bird, the Downy turned quickly in the air at a sharp angle, the Shrike over- 

 shooting its mark. It then turned with much more effort than the woodpecker, 

 and again took up the pursuit. So long as they were in sight — and I saw the 

 Shrike swoop a number of times — the Woodpecker continued on its way appar- 

 ently unafraid, and dodged each attack with ease. 



Several observers have seen shrikes chasing blue jays or found one 

 of the jays impaled in the usual shrike fashion. Ora W. Knight 

 (1908) adds the pine grosbeak to the list of the shrike's victims. Wil- 

 liam Brewster (1936) gives the following account of a shrike in pur- 

 suit of a brown creeper : 



When I first saw him, he was in hot pursuit of one of the Brown Creepers 

 and both birds wore about over the middle of the river and scarce a yard 

 apart. The Creeper made straight for the big elm which stands at the eastern 

 end of the bridge. When he reached it, the Shrike's bill was within six inches 

 of his tail, but he nevertheless escaped ; for an instant after the two birds 

 doubled around behind the trunk the Shrike rose to the topmost spray of the 

 elm, where he sat for a minute or more, gazing intently downward, evidently 

 watching for the Creeper. The latter, no doubt, had flattened himself against 

 the bark after the usual practice of his kind when badly frightened and he had 

 the nerve and good sense to remain perfectly still for at least ten tninutes. My 

 eyes were no better than the Shrike's, for it was in vain that I scanned the trunk 

 over and over with the greatest care. Feeling sure, however, that the Creeper 

 was really there, I waited patiently until at the end of the period just named he 

 began running up the trunk, starting at the very point where I had seen him 

 disappear. It was one of the prettiest demonstrations of the effectiveness 

 of protective coloration that I have ever witnessed. 



In the same publication, he vividly describes the capture and killing 

 of a field mouse : 



As I watched a Shrike it flew from the topmost spray of a small maple into 

 some alders and alighted on a horizontal stem about a foot above the level of 

 surrounding snow but directly beneath; as I afterwards found, the snow had 

 thawed quite down to the ground, leaving a trench about two feet deep by three 

 or four inches wide, into which the Shrike, after peering intently for a moment, 

 suddenly dropped with fluttering wings and wide opened tail. 



Within a second or less it reappeared, dragging out a Field Mouse of the 

 largest size. The moment it got the Mouse fairly out on the level surface of 

 the snow it dropped it apparently to get a fresh hold (as nearly as I could make 

 out it had held it up to this time by about the middle of the back). The Mouse, 

 instead of attempting to regain its run way, as I expected it would do, Instantly 

 turned on its assailant and with surprising fierceness and agility sprang directly 



