1913 BIRDS OF THE FRESNO DISTRICT 95 



cause; while several others are known to have perished from strangulation, in 

 an attempt to swallow a raisin too large to pass down the throat. 



The majority of the specimens examined showed very little of the wax- 

 like tipping on the wings, only one bird having a sufficient amount to be notice- 

 able at a distance of thirty feet. 



Phainopepla. Phainopepla nitens (Swainson). 



Phainopeplas occur commonly along the oak covered hills of the Upper So- 

 noran zone, which extends along the western slope of the Sierras in this county. 

 Only on rare occasions do they get down into the valley. 



March 26, 1906, I was somewhat surprised to hear the call of this species on 

 Dry Creek, some seven miles east of Clovis, and soon located the bird, feeding 

 in a bunch of mistletoe that grew in a large cottonwood. This was a female 

 bird and it remained in that vicinity for some time, as I heard the unmistakable 

 call near the same place on April 15, when I happened to be passing nearby. 



California Shrike. Lanius ludovicianus gambeli Ridgway. 



The "butcher bird," as this species is generally called, is found in abundance 

 on the arid plains west of Fresno, and on the large wheat and alfalfa ranches to 

 the southwest, and it is met with little less commonly all through the more highly 

 cultivated districts to the east of the city. It seems equally at home anywhere in 

 the valley, vvhile in late June, 1906, a pair were seen on a board fence above Toll 

 House, at an elevation of about two thousand feet and quite above the digger pine 

 belt. 



Certainly no one can but feel an interest in this bird in spite of his rather 

 bad reputation, which he seems to deserve, in part at least. 



I have been impressed with the wonderful eyesight that this species possesses. 

 Frequently I have seen one of these birds fly a distance of sixty feet or more 

 from its perch, and pick up an object so small that it was not visible to me at 

 less than half that distance. 



During the summer months a surprising number of grasshoppers, lizards, 

 and small horned toads are hung up, presumably to dry, with a thought, pos- 

 sibly, of providing against a time of food scarcity. Sometimes these unfortunate 

 creatures are impaled on a barb of a fence wire or a splinter of wood, but as often 

 they are wedged into a small fork of some bush or shrub. 



Several instances of attacking and killing smaller birds have come to my 

 notice. One evening just before dark I heard a commotion in a large blue gum 

 tree, and arrived on the scene in time to see a shrike tlying away with a Linnet. 

 The prey was almost too much for him to carry, however, so I started in pursuit. 

 T finally caused the outlaw to drop his victim, but just too late, for. with a con- 

 vulsive gasp, the finch expired in my hand. On March 11, 1904. while driving 

 home through the rain, I saw a shrike fly up from some weeds at the roadside. 

 He was carrying a small bird, and made an attempt to alight on the lower wire 

 of a fence, but was compelled to drop the bird in order to maintain his balance. 

 As the shrike sat facing me he appeared to be all that his common name implies. 

 A large tuft of bloody feathers was still held in his bill, while another villain 

 rasped his approval from a nearby post. 



On October 29, 1905. I drove two butcher birds from a feast they had just 



