98 Sketches of Some Common Birds. 



bark which protects the nest. On one occasion I observed 

 a loggerhead shrike chasing a bird which I took to be a 

 Maryland yellow-throat, and like a weasel in his deter- 

 mination, he followed his quarry more than a mile over 

 the open meadows; and when his intended victim dropped 

 into a thicket to escape its relentless pursuer, he dashed 

 down after it with unabated perseverance. 



Most of the accounts of the boldness and rapacity of the 

 shrike refer to the great northern species. Though we 

 have said that the loggerhead shrike is scarcely less bold 

 and cruel in its nature, it makes its home with us during 

 the time when insect food is abundant; and in its diet it is 

 largely insectivorous, since insects are captured with less 

 exertion than are small birds. In the early spring it is a 

 fellow-laborer of the farmer who is moving the shocks of 

 corn which have been allowed to stand in the field during 

 the winter months. The corn shocks have become tenanted 

 by families of mice, and when the stalks are torn apart 

 the mice can be seen scampering to other quarters. The 

 shrike, waiting from a convenient perch for the appear- 

 ance of its prey, dashes in pursuit of its victim, regardless 

 of the proximity of the farmer, and often picks up its 

 prey almost from between his feet. Sometimes the shrike 

 will hover over its intended victim after the manner of 

 the sparrow-hawk, and drop down upon it after a mo- 

 mentary pause in mid-air. 



On only one occasion have I been so fortunate as to wit- 

 ness a shrike impale its victim — a mouse recently caught — 

 upon a thorn. The shrike flew past me with its prey, 

 which it carried in its strong hooked beak, and alighted in 

 the top of a hedge tree near me. Selecting a thorn which 

 projected away from it, the lucky forayer pushed the body 

 of the mouse upon the thorn, which penetrated the 

 shoulders of the victim. By pulling on the body with his 

 bill, the shrike fastened the mouse securely as he pulled, 

 and thus was enabled to tear away the portions of the 

 body he desired for food. Several dainty mouthfuls, how- 

 ever, appeared to satisfy his Epicurean taste; and as 

 three or four wandering gracklesaligli ted in the tree near 

 him, and continued the voluble conversation in which 

 they were engaged, the shrike indicated his disgust at 



