LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE 133 



with him completely. He has never noted any trait that would tend to 

 prove that the loggerhead was lacking in domestic responsibility. 



Nesting. — This species is an early nester, even in regions where early 

 nesting is indulged by other avian forms. It is another point of simi- 

 larity to the birds of prey, for the loggerhead is decidedly reminiscent 

 of that order in many ways. Though Florida shows the earliest dates 

 for nesting (which is to be expected) there is not a great deal of dif- 

 ference between it and coastal South Carolina or Georgia. In all of 

 these the loggerhead sometimes begins nest-building in February, but 

 March is more nearly normal. 



Arthur H. Howell (1932) lists February 9 as an early Florida rec- 

 ord, this nesting being near Gainesville. The birds usually begin to 

 build in the Lake Okeechobee region late in February, and are incu- 

 bating during the first week of March. In the Pensacola area (much 

 to the north and west) the latter part of March is more typical, and 

 F. M. Weston (MS.) states that the first brood is raised by "early 

 April." Nests with eggs found by him in mid-May he says are "al- 

 most certainly a second brood." Similar dates are typical of south- 

 ern Georgia. Fresh eggs on or after the middle of May in either 

 region are doubtless a second laying. 



C. H. Pangburn (1919) believes that the loggerhead is the third 

 commonest nesting bird in Pinellas County, Fla., and that the young 

 are flying the last week in March. S. A. Grimes (1928) puts it sec- 

 ond in the Jacksonville area, outnumbered only by the mockingbird. 



Dr. E. E. Murphey, of Augusta, Ga., has a nesting date of March 

 at that locality. Arthur T. Wayne (1919) states that he was in- 

 formed by G. R. Rossignol that the latter found a nest and five eggs 

 at Savannah on February 15, 1919. Nest-building by this pair began 

 on January 16. Tliis is a very early date and may be considered the 

 earliest Georgia record. 



Nesting in South Carolina in some years varies little from that in 

 Florida. Wayne (1910) has noted birds mated by mid-February and 

 says that nests are often built late that month. Bad weather in March 

 frequently delays nest construction, however, and not infrequently 

 the birds abandon original efforts and start new nests. Average time 

 for the Charleston region is late in March. Files of the Charleston 

 Museum show that incubating birds were found by F. M. Weston on 

 March 18, 1913, and March 19, 1911. Wayne's earliest breeding rec- 

 ord was March 13, 1917. The writer found a nest with five fresh 

 eggs on March 28, 1914. While living in the city of Charleston he 

 was accustomed to find nests of this species every year on the street in 

 front of his home. There was a line of small live-oak trees planted 

 there (the area was all "made" land, having been reclaimed from the 

 Ashley River) , and their thick, tough twigs were ideal nesting sites. 



