Mar. 1889.] 



AKD OOLOGIST. 



37 



Food of the Great Northern Shrike. 



While cutting wood December 17, 1888, I 

 noticed a half-eaten robin placed in the crotch 

 of an elm, about six feet from the ground. On 

 reflecting, I concluded it might be the work of 

 a shrike, and placed a steel trap on the re- 

 maining part of the bird. I did not visit the 

 place until the 10th, when I found the robin torn 

 to pieces, and a Great Xorthern Shiike dangling 

 by the neck from the trap. This is conclusive 

 evidence that the robin was killed and eaten 

 piecemeal by the shrike, as parts of the bird 

 were found in the stomach of the shrike. The 

 weather was warm and no snow <m the ground, 

 showing tliat insect food might have been ob- 

 tainable. 



On .January 14, 1889, while passing over a 

 field of stubble my attention was attracted to 

 a Shrike poised in the air about 20 feet from 

 the ground; it soon darted down within a foot 

 of the ground, and again poised itself, then I 

 noticed a meadow mouse {Arvicola riparous) 

 trying to jump u]) and combat the shrike, but 

 the bird taking and having all the advantage 

 soon overcame and killed the mouse, and then 

 seizing its prey it flew away a slu)rt distance 

 and began to devour the mouse, when I inter- 

 fered, and the bird taking the remaining por- 

 tion of the animal flew out of my reach. The 

 facts that I have written in previous numbers 

 of this magazine were the result of close ob- 

 servation in the field relative to the food of the 

 Shrike in this part of New York, and I am 

 willing to furnish any further evidence that is 

 needed to carry out my assertions in previous 

 articles, and until I have further proof from 

 Mr. Gaboon or other gentlemen interested in 

 this matter I sliall consider that the greater 

 element of food during winter in our section 

 is small birds and animals. B^nj. F. Hpkh. 



Vireo Solitarius Alticola at Raleigh, 

 N. C. 



Nesting of the Prothonotary Warbler. 



We have taken four specimens referable to 

 this variety here, and another intermediate 

 between alticola and typical mlitariua. I give 

 data and measurements as of some interest: 



October 13, 1886, 9, 1. b%, w. 3, t. 2}^, e. 9%. 



November 3, 1886. $ , 1. .5}^, w. 3-iV, t. 2]/^, 

 e. 9%. 



.June 4, 1888,* ^, 1. 5%, w. 3-/,:, t. 2%, e. 9%. 



August 10, 1888, ^,1.6, w. 3'/^, t. 2-f^, e. lO^^;. 



August 10, 1888, 9 , 1. 5%, w. 3-,-V, t. 2ffl-, e. 9%. 



(J. S. Brindcy. 



♦ Intermediate form. 



One of the most beautiful as well as one of 

 the least known of our summer visitors is this 

 bird {Protimotaria cifrea). To know him one 

 must be familiar with the stagnant ponds, 

 damp, miasmatic, heavily timbered swamps 

 of our grand Mississippi valley. To study well 

 the habits of this very gaudily dressed songster 

 you must spend hours of time, use careful ob- 

 servation, and, last but not least, more than 

 likely make the acquaintance of King Ague. 



In this section of country this little known 

 bird is very abundant, and yet is scarcely 

 known to any but the students of ornithology 

 on account of his peculiar luibits. For some 

 yeai-s past I have been making a special study 

 of this warbler, and it is with no little misgiv- 

 ings tliat I now propose to give the results of 

 study to my bird-loving brothers, although it 

 is done at the special request of the editors of 

 the O. & O. 



These warblers arrive here from about the 

 first to the tenth of May, and immediately se- 

 lect some old deserted woodpecker's hole, or 

 natural cavity, in an old snag or live tree. 

 This is their house, and right valiantly do they 

 hold it against chickadee, wren, or other 

 squatter. 



One of the odd things about their selection 

 of a nesting place is their ability to tell where 

 the ponds and creeks will be when the river 

 goes down. But they can. They usually come 

 North when the river (Illinois) at this point is 

 very high, and expanded in an unbroken sheet 

 of water from one to two miles wide. Yet 

 these little fellows select a place for a home 

 that, when the water goes down in the sum- 

 mer, is almost always beside some small piece 

 of water that does not dry out. How they can 

 tell wliere these will be when the whole face 

 of the bottoms is covered with water is a 

 mystery. 



Having selected their nesting place, the fe- 

 male begins by bringing some fine straws or 

 grasses which are arranged in a nice nest in 

 the bottom of the hole. Next she procures 

 some fine strips of grape vine bark, and lines 

 her nest, and lastly covei's this all over cai-e- 

 fully and thickly with moss, such as grows on 

 the bark of trees standing in the water. This 

 mode of construction is the usual one and 

 makes a very warm, compact nest. 



They very rarely use any feathers or hair, 

 and sometimes build their nest entirely of one 

 of the above materials; and I have (me nest in 

 my collection that has as carefully a woven 



