Dusky, Gray, and Slate-colored 



seen, for the winter birds have a delightfully social manner, so 

 that a colony of these Free masons is apt to contain not only both 

 kinds of nuthatches and chickadees, but kinglets and brown 

 creepers as well. It shares the family habit of walking about the 

 trees, head downward, and running along the under side of limbs 

 like a fly. By Thanksgiving Day the qiiank! qiiank! of the 

 white-breasted species is answered by the tai-tai-tait ! of the red- 

 breasted cousin in the orchard, where the family party is cele- 

 brating with an elaborate menu of slugs, insects' eggs, and oily 

 seeds from the evergreen trees. 



For many years this nuthatch, a more northern species than 

 the white-breasted bird, was thought to be only a spring and 

 autumn visitor, but latterly it is credited with habits like its 

 congener's in nearly every particular. 



Loggerhead Shrike 



(Lanius ludovicianus) Shrike family 



Length — 8.5 to 9 inches. A little smaller than the robin. 



Male and Female — Upper parts gray ; narrow black line across 

 forehead, connecting small black patches on sides of head at 

 base of bill. Wings and tail black, plentifully marked with 

 white, the outer tail feathers often being entirely white and 

 conspicuous in flight. Underneath white or very light gray. 

 Bill hooked and hawk-like. 



Range — Eastern United States to the plains. 



Migrations — May. October. Summer resident. 



It is not easy, even at a slight distance, to distinguish the 

 loggerhead from the Northern shrike. Both have the pernicious 

 habit of killing insects and smaller birds and impaling them on 

 thorns; both have the peculiarity of flying, with strong, vigorous 

 flight and much wing-flapping, close along the ground, then 

 suddenly rising to a tree, on the lookout for prey. Their harsh, 

 unmusical call-notes are similar too, and their hawk-like method 

 of dropping suddenly upon a victim on the ground below is iden- 

 tical. Indeed, the same description very nearly answers for both 

 birds. But there is one very important difference. While the 

 Northern shrike is a winter visitor, the loggerhead, being his South- 

 ern counterpart, does not arrive until after the frost is out of the 

 ground, and he can be sure of a truly warm welcome. A lesser 



86 



