130 BULLETIN 19 7, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



down, reinforced with fine and coarse twigs, and thoroughly mixed 

 throughout with Vv'hite ptarmigan feathers, with which it is also pro- 

 fusely lined, forming a soft, warm bed. It was placed 12 feet from the 

 ground in a cottonwood tree and contained the unusual number of nine 

 handsome eggs. 



W. E. Clyde Todd has sent me the following note from Arthur C. 

 Twomey : "A nest of this shrike was found on June 20, 1942, on the 

 outer fringe of the transitional willow community that divides the 

 coniferous forest from the true tundra. It was located six miles west 

 of the southwest tip of Richards Island, Mackenzie River Delta, 

 N. W. T., Canada. The nest was in a dense growth of willows about 

 twelve feet from the ground. It was a large, bulky structure made up 

 of dead willow twigs, dry sedges, grasses, and strips of willow bark. 

 It had a deep inner cavity that was completely lined with a half inch 

 layer of winter ptarmigan feathers. The five half-incubated eggs 

 were well insulated against the rapidly changing temperatures." 



Eggs. — The nest described above by MacFarlane (1908) contained 

 six eggs, and he reports another nest that contained eight. The eggs 

 are evidently indistinguishable from those of the northern shrike. 

 He describes them as "of a light greenish ground, marbled and 

 streaked with blotches of obscure purple, clay colour and rufous 

 brown." The measurements of 14 eggs average 27.3 by 20.4 milli- 

 meters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 28.1 by 20.0, 

 27.3 by 21.0, 26.3 by 20.7, and 26.5 by 20.0 millimeters. 



Young. — In the Atlin region of northern British Columbia, Mr. 

 Swarth (1926) collected a brood of six young, "just able to fly," on 

 June 30. "The young birds, huddled together in a spruce thicket, 

 were being fed by one parent, which escaped. * * * The young 

 birds were extremely noisy; it was the incessant squalling for food 

 that drew our attention, from a distance. Their stomachs were well 

 filled, mostly with insect remains, including some small Coleoftera; 

 in one stomach there were parts of a very young ptarmigan chick, 

 including the bill." 



Plumages. — Mr. Swarth (1920) writes: "A notable feature of the 

 shrikes in juvenal plumage is their gray coloration. In the freshly 

 acquired first winter plumage there is a decidedly brown tone both 

 above and below, but, save for the wing markings, none of this ap- 

 pears in the juvenal stage. This plumage is mostly clear gray, 

 slightly darker on the dorsum, and finely vermiculated below." 



An adult male, collected on July 28, "is in the midst of the annual 

 molt. Above and below the old feathers are extremely pale colored. 

 The underparts are almost pure white, the old feathers having lost 

 every vestige of the dusky vermiculations. Such markings show 

 plainly enough on the new breast feathers, just coming in." 



Food.—Dv. Grinnell (1900) saw a northwestern shrike "carrying 



