LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE 139 



seen one [shrike] occupy liimself for hours in sticking up [on 

 thorns] * * * a number of small fishes that the fishermen had 

 thrown on the shore * * *. The fishes dried up and decayed." 



Pearson and the Brimleys (19-12) give an interesting observation 

 on a shrike "larder" in a residential section of High Point, Guilford 

 County, N. C. It was composed of "no less than fifteen small snakes" 

 impaled on the thorns of a bush. They also state that F. H. Craig- 

 hill, of Rocky Mount, N. C, found a loggerhead's cache of a snake, 

 a crayfish, and a grasshopper. 



Alluding once more to its bird-killing propensities, observations by 

 S. A. Grimes, of Jacksonville, Fla. (1928) , reveal that tlie loggerheads 

 "take fledgling English Sparrows from their nests in holes made by 

 woodpeckers. Perched in the entrance, heedless of the frantic chatter- 

 ing of the sparrows without, the Shrike, in each instance, appeared to 

 be having no little difficulty in seizing one of the young sparrows. The 

 squealing victim was invariably held by the head. On one occasion 

 the struggling sparrow succeeded in freeing itself, but was recap- 

 tured and promptly thrust on a barb of a nearby fence." 



Behavior. — The loggerhead presents a striking combination of 

 absolute immobility and intense activity. To see one sitting on a 

 telephone wire awaiting prey is to see a bird as motionless as if it 

 were cast in bronze. The next moment it may be dashing through the 

 air like a winged meteor to pounce accurately upon a spot many yards 

 away. These alternating periods of activity and inactivity are very 

 characteristic. 



Essentially a bird of open country, it is a still hunter in the main 

 and always chooses an elevated and conspicuous perch. This may 

 be the topmost twig of a tree or bush, roadside wires or fences, or 

 any such advantage giving a wide and uninterrupted view. Charlotte 

 H. Green, however (1933), states that the bird has "another method 

 of hunting. Like the crows, he sometimes sneaks upon his victim 

 from the ground." She gives no specific observation relating to such 

 procedure, and it must be a rather uncommon occurrence. The writer 

 has never happened to witness it in his long experience with the species, 

 and certainly it is not freely indulged. 



The vision of the loggerhead is phenomenal, even for a bird. That 

 it can and does see insects at remarkable distances is unquestioned. 

 When living in the Battery Section of Charleston in an area then 

 being developed residentially, the writer has often sat on the porch 

 and v/atched loggerheads hunting in adjacent vacant lots. Frequently 

 a bird would pitch off the wires and glide, or fly, 50 to 70 yards in a 

 direct line to a spot in the grasses and seize a grasshopper. No hov- 

 ering or hesitancy is shown in these sudden dashes. The bird goes 

 directly to a specific spot, and there is no doubt whatever that the 

 intended prey was seen before the bird left the j)erch. 



