THE WILSON BULLETIN 



A QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF ORNITHOLOGY 



VOL. XXXIII JUNE, 1921 NO. 2 



OLD SERIES VOL. XXXIII. NEW SERIES VOL. XXVIII 



MIGRANT SHRIKE 

 {Lanins ludovicmnus migratis) 



BY IRA N. GABRIELSON 



On the 21st of June, 1915, while poking about in a 

 natural hedge conipovsed of plum, hawthonie, and other like 

 trees, I happened to glance up just in time to see a Shrike 

 slipping off through the branches. A little investigation 

 soon disclosed a nest built of sticks, sections of morning 

 glorj^ vines, scraps of paper, and shreds of wool and lined 

 with small roots. Looking into the nest I discovered five 

 eggs. While this nest was too high in the air to photo- 

 graph successfully I determined to ftry moving it. On re- 

 turning July 5th I found five young ones 3 to 5 days old. 

 This suited me exactly as the feeding instinct seems to 

 be at its height during the first few days of the nestling 

 period. Consequently, I cut the branch on which the nest 

 was built and lowered it six feet. While many others 

 have used this method successfully, this was the first nest 

 which I was able to move without disturbing the birds. A 

 blind was erected, but the following morning it liad been 

 torn down by cattle. It was replaced and at 5 :00 p. ra. 

 was entered just long enough .to ,make sure that the old 

 birds were still caring for the young. On July 8 I entered 

 the blind at 11:00 a. m. and remained until 4:45 p. m. 

 watching these birds and taking photographs. 



During the seven hours on July 6 and 8 while the nest 

 was under observation the nestlings were fed 39 times or 

 at the rate of 5i/^ times per hour. Large gr-asshoppers, 

 crickets, eater-pillars, larvte of various kinds of beetles, and 

 spiders made up the recognizable food materials. The 



