NORTHERN SHRIKE 121 



apart, and some additional support is desirable; hence this characteris- 

 tic habit. If the shrike is really hungry, its prey is gulped down al- 

 most entirely, flesh, feathers, fur, and most of the bones, only a few 

 of the larger feathers and bones being discarded. These indigestible 

 portions of the food are disgorged later in the form of pellets, which 

 are often found where shrikes have been feeding. Edwin A. Mason 

 sends me the following description of a pellet that he took from a bird- 

 banding trap where a shrike had been feeding on a junco: "Including 

 a 10-mm. tip, or tail, the pellet was 40 mm. long and 10 mm. thick, 

 consisting largely of matted feathers ; scattered through the mass could 

 be seen small pieces of bone, some identifiable as from the skull, one 

 tarsus with foot attached, and one fragment of bone obviously from 

 the main body skeletal structure." A very brief period of time had 

 elapsed between the ingestion and the regurgitation of the indigestible 

 material. 



Mr. Floyd (1928) mentions "several pellets which measured from 

 half an inch long to one and one-eighth inches. They averaged three- 

 eighths of an inch in diameter." 



The northern shrike often kills more mice or birds than it can use 

 at once, to many of which it never returns, and these are left to dry or 

 rot. It has been known repeatedly to enter a bird-banding trap, kill 

 all the birds in it, and not eat any of them. It sometimes dashes into 

 a flock of redpolls or goldfinches, knocking out several of them, per- 

 haps for the mere sport of killing them. Mr. Floyd (1928) writes: 

 "A shrike that was seen to enter an electric-car barn in pursuit of an 

 English Sparrow killed all the Sparrows in the barn, without thought 

 of itself or pausing to eat any of its victims." 



In captivity it will eat almost any kind of raw meat, will kill living 

 birds and eat them, or eat dead birds or mice, though it seems to 

 prefer mice to any other food. It will come to a feeding station to 

 eat suet or hamburg steak, even when live birds are in the vicinity. 

 Dr. Charles W. Townsend (1933) says: "On a warm March day I 

 watched a Shrike fly-catching from the top of a tree. He pursued a 

 large bee and missed it, but by a quick turn he caught it. * * * 

 Once I saw two on March 9 hovering about the dry thatch-grass cast 

 up on the beach, apparently picking up flies and spiders." 



Behavior. — Much of the behavior of the northern shrike has been 

 referred to above. The outstanding traits of this bloodthirsty rascal 

 are boldness, fierceness, and savagery in its fearless and relentless pur- 

 suit of its prey, utterly regardless of obstacles or the presence of man. 

 Nuttall's (1832) historic account illustrates its audacity: 



Mr. J. Brown, of Cambridge, informs me that one of these birds had tlie boldness 



to attack two Canaries in a cage, suspended one fine winter's daj' at the window. 



The poor sonjjsters in their fears flnttcred to the side of the c;ige, and one of them 



thrust his liead through the bars of las prison ; at this instant the wily Butcher 



843290—50 9 



