LANIID^ — THE SHRIKES. 



41^ 



Collurio borealis, IJaii;!). 



GREAT NORTHERN SHRIKE, OR BUTCHER-BIRD. 



Lanius borealis, Vieillot, Ois. Am. 8upt. I, 1807, 90, pi. 1. — Sw. — Aud. Syn. — Ib. 

 Birds Am. IV, 1842, 130, pi. ccxxxvi. — Cassin. — Max. Cab. Jour. VI, 1858, 190 

 (Upper Missouri). — Jones, Nat. Bermuda, 1857, 51 (Bermuda). — Dresser & Sharpe, 

 P. Z. S. 1870, 590. CJollyrio borealis, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 324. — Cooper & 

 SucKLEY, P. R. Rep. XII, II, 1860, 188 (Washington Territory). — Dall & Bannister, 

 280 (Alaska). — SAxMUEls, Birds N. Eng. 268. Collurio borealis, Baird, Rev. Am. B. 

 1864, 440. Lanius cxcubitor, Forster, Phil. Trans. LXII, 1772, 382 (not of Linnaeus). 

 — Wilson, I, 1808, 74, pi. v, tig. 1. Lanius sejdentrionalis, Bon. Syn. 1828, 72 (not 

 of Gmelin, which cannot be identified as an American species). — Cooper, Orn. Cal. 

 I, 1870, 137. —Cassin, Pr. A. N. Sc. 1857, 213. —Murray, Ed. New Phil. Jour. 

 XI, 1859, 223 (H. B. T.). 



Hab. Whole of America north of United States; in winter south to Washington, St. 

 Louis, Prescott (Arizona), and North California; Bermuda (winter, Jones). 



The description of this and the succeeding species \vill be found on page 

 413. In winter, the colors, especially of the immature birds, are quite 

 difierent from those described. The plumage of the adult, in winter, differs 

 from that of spring as follows : tlie lores and nasal tufts are whitish, instead 

 of pure, sharply defined black, with, 

 however, some of the hair-like fibres 

 blackish. The ash above is a little 

 less clear, the white beneath less pure ; 

 the under mandible whitish at the base. 

 An immature bird, in winter, has the ash 

 above overlaid by a wash of reddish- 

 brown, producing a prevailing uniform 

 light-l)rown tint ; the black on side of 

 head is reduced to an obsolete patch on 

 the ear-coverts. The dull white beneath 

 is everywhere — sometimes even on the 

 lower tail-coverts — covered with nu- 

 merous bars of dusky, more sharply 

 defined, and darker than in the adidt. 



Eastern specimens appear to have as much white on the rump as Western 

 ones. 



Habits. In the breeding-season this species of Shrike is found in all 

 North America north of the United States, and is said to breed also within 

 our territory, in mountainous districts. Such, at least, is the statement of 

 Mr. Audul)on, and Wilson leaves us to infer the same thing by giving a 

 minute description of its nest and eggs. But Audubon may have con- 

 founded this species with the excvhif oroides, and Wilson, ap|)arently believing 

 our species and the cxcubitor of Europe to be identical, may liave had the 



Collyrio exciibitoroii/es. 



