Vol 'i9i8 XV ] Mousley, Breeding of the Migrant Shrike. 33 



THE BREEDING OF THE MIGRANT SHRIKE AT 

 HATLEY, STANSTEAD COUNTY, QUEBEC, 19 16. 1 



BY H. MOUSLEY. 



The Migrant Shrike (Lanius ludovicianus migrans) like the 

 Prairie Horned Lark is an interesting species, and one which has 

 increased in numbers ever since the clearing of the country, having 

 invaded the eastern side of the continent principally, I suppose, 

 from the Mississippi Valley. As to the exact date of its first 

 breeding here, I cannot say, but some idea may be formed when we 

 consider that it was first recorded as doing so in Maine in 1877, 

 and in Vermont the same year, the latter state adjoining the County 

 of Stanstead on the south, and the former not being more than 

 thirty miles distant on the east at its nearest point. 



As already indicated in my 'Five years notes and observations 

 on the birds of Hatley' (Auk, Vol. XXXIII, 1916, pp. 57-73, 

 168-186), the species is by no means plentiful here, and until the 

 present year I had only been able to locate two nests, and these 

 some three miles or more away from Hatley. However, during 

 the present year I have been fortunate in finding a pair breeding 

 within half a mile south of Hatley Village, and under circumstances 

 which I think are well worth recording. Now my previous earliest 

 date of arrival here for the species was April 13, but on March 28 

 of the present year I saw an example quite close to my house, 

 but it was not until towards the end of April that my youngest 

 son reported having seen another on two or three occasions near 

 the village and always about in the same locality. This set me 

 thinking, and knowing the ways of shrikes I came to the conclusion 

 that probably it was nesting not far off. With this in view I set 

 off to inspect the locality on April 29, and soon found a shrike 

 perched on the telephone wire, near a tall fir tree (the lower 



1 Read before the Nuttall Ornithological Club, Oct. 2, 1916, by Dr. Chas. W. Townsend 

 for the Author. 



