Recent Ornithological Publications. 119 



" At Columbia, where the Loggerhead is a very coaimon bird, 

 frequenting the weedy streets and waste fields of the city, I 

 have observed it on numerous occasions, and once witnessed the 

 following : a Loggerhead was busily foraging for insects in the 

 Capitol yard ; from its observatory, on the top of a tall bush, it 

 pounced upon a large grasshopper, and carried it to a tree near 

 by, which was full of small, sharp twigs. Planting itself upon 

 one of them, with the insect in its beak, the bird thrust the 

 grasshopper upon a twig, pushing the latter quite through the 

 insect's body by repeated forcible movements. After the grass- 

 hopper had been transfixed to the bird's satisfaction, the latter 

 hopped to another part of the tree, where it remained for some 

 minutes, apparently enjoying the writhings of the impaled 

 insect, or at least waiting to make sure that it was firmly secured. 

 This being evidently the case, the bird at length flew off, re- 

 sumed its former station, and commenced to hunt for more 

 grasshoppers. AVithin the next few minutes I saw it capture 

 several more, all of which it ate upon the spot. 



" I have not seen any satisfactory explanation of this strange 

 habit of the Shrikes ; nor am I prepared to offer any. Writers 

 have drawn largely upon their imagination in treating of the 

 trait. The facts at our command are conflicting, and do not 

 furnish the basis for any very consistent theory as to the why or 

 wherefore, or, particularly, the cui bono of such proceedings on 

 the part of the bird. The commonly received doctrine, to the 

 effect that Shrikes providently lay up in this way a store for 

 future emergencies, is hardly tenable. In the case narrated 

 above, the bird did not return to feast upon the grasshopper; 

 for I purposely passed that way several days afterward, and 

 saw the unfortunate insect still sticking there. Why did the 

 bird impale it at all ? It was evidently hungry at the time, for, 

 as above stated, it at once recommenced foraging, and captured 

 and devoured several more insects on the spot; and, moreover, 

 the thousands of live grasshoppers that there were within a 

 radius of as many yards, rendered such special pains in securing 

 that one on a twig quite unnecessary. It may be as wed lo 

 confess that we do not know the reason of this habit of the 

 Shrikes ; we can only say that it is ' a way they have.' " 



