RUFFLE-BREAST, THE SHRIKE 183 



manner. Such attempts were performed apparently with 

 great effort, and the music produced was never of a very 

 high order. 



In going through the pine woods of Florida the traveler 

 often comes upon a negro cabin in a small clearing. Here 

 are usually growing two or thi;ee orange trees, a Spanish 

 bayonet plant, and perhaps a dozen live oak trees of differ- 

 ent sizes. For the past two miles of his journey the traveler 

 has found no shrike, but here at this diminutive plantation, 

 if the season be March, he is sure to hear a loggerhead 

 calling loudly and continuously from the top spray of some 

 tree, or flying down before him to seize a beetle or grass- 

 hopper from the grass. A search in the orange or oak 

 trees will soon reveal its nest, a wonderfully strong affair 

 built of sticks and vines and a great quantity of chicken 

 feathers. 



Farther on a shallow pond is found, about whose shores 

 are growing a few water oak trees. Here is another good 

 place to look for the loggerhead's nest. Thus one may 

 move on for days through the high pine woods and rarely 

 see a shrike except about the farms or ponds where the 

 thick foliage of the orange or oak trees furnish them with 

 suitable nesting places. 



THOUGHT QUESTIONS 

 What time of year do you see the shrike ? Do shrikes prefer sparrows to 



