irtlT BIRDS OF THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ISLANDS 89 



Laniiis si). .'' (JH) Richardson, Condor, x, 1908, p. 68. 



Lanius mearnsi {28) Linton, Condor, x, 1908, p. 182. 



Lanius l[ndovicianus'\. mearnsi (29) Linton, Condor, x, 1908, p. 182. 



Lanius llndovicianns]. anthonyi (30) Linton, Condor, x, 1908, p. 182. 



Fairly coininoii resident of most of the islands. Originally desei-ihed by E. 

 A. Alearns (7) from a specimen collected l)y R. H. Beck on Santa Cruz Island. 

 iMay 6, 1897. Darker and smaller than gambeli. Another island subspecies, L. I. 

 mearnsi was described by R. Ridgway {22, 23) and was at one time accepted by 

 the A. 0. U. Committee {24), but after its validity had been questioned by a 

 number of wa-iters, it was finally discarded {25). The type was from San Cle- 

 mente Island and its characters as given, were : similar to anthonyi but upper 

 parts darker and upper tail coverts abruptly white, more white on scapulars, 

 white spot at base of primaries larger, and underparts less strongly tinged with 

 gray. 



On San Clemente these birds are distributed over most of the island. In an 

 especially favorable little canyon several pairs will congregate, and I have found 

 two pairs breeding in such a place not a hundred yards apart, while a third nest 

 was within a quarter of a mile. On either side of this wash, however, there were 

 no birds for long distances. C. B. Linton {23) found a nest of small young 

 March 1, 1007, and I encountered a family of .iuveniles that were strong on the 

 wing, March 23, 1915. During the first part of April, second nests were in pro- 

 cess of construction. On the western end of the island at least, the nest is almost 

 invarial)ly i^laced a couple of feet above the ground in a certain kind of thorny 

 bush, and is substantially constructed of twigs and weed stems and lined with 

 sheep wool. 



On Catalina shrikes are rather rare, and I have seen only an occasional indi- 

 vidual. C. H. Richardson {27) met fully fledged young here that were being fed 

 by the parents in April. Reported from Santa Barbara Island by J. Gr. Cooper 

 ■{!), but no one else has met with the species there. II. Robertson and V. W. 

 Owen {14) saw a pair, and found a nest full of young, on Anacapa, June 4. 1899, 

 apparently the only record for this island. 



In the vicinity of Prisoner's Harbor, Santa Cruz Island, A. van Rossem and 

 I found shrikes to be decidedly rare. A favorite perch was at the very top of 

 some tall dead pine, and from this the bird would fly when the observer was a 

 surprisingly long distance off. J. ^lailliard {9) found two nests here during 

 April, 1898, one, containing a set of seven eggs, placed in the middle of a brush 

 pile, and the other, with six eggs, in a gum tree. Present on Santa Rosa, where 

 II. J. Lelande and 0. W. Howard {14) saw a bird June 8, 1910. 



Numerically I believe that this, subspecies is one of the rarest birds in the 

 country, and it is certainly one of the very shyest of the small land birds. No 

 matter what strategy the hunter employs, the shrikes seem perfectly capable of 

 luatching it, and except near the nest, it is well nigh hopeless to try and get 

 within gunshot of one. Even the alarmed shrieking of their own offspring will 

 fail to attract them. While on Clemente in the spring of 1915, I collected the 

 male and three young of a family of these birds. The following day I took the 

 female of another nest a short distance away, but did not try to deprive the 



