34 Mousley, Breeding of the Migrant Shrike. [j^ n 



branches of which had been cut off) which stood at the side of the 

 road leading from Hatley to Stanstead village. There were a 

 number of thorn and apple trees (the favorite nesting sites of 

 these birds) scattered about over a rather large area, so I pro- 

 ceeded to examine each one carefully, but not a sign of a nest 

 could I discover, or could I find the shrike again; and as it was 

 about noon I returned home, deciding to visit the locality later on 

 in the afternoon. On arrival, however, at the place no signs could 

 be seen of any shrike, but on ascending some rising ground near 

 the tall fir tree already mentioned, I put one up off the ground, 

 and at once decided to follow it wherever it went. It was not 

 long before this one was joined by another, and a pretty dance 

 the pair led me the whole of that afternoon, further and further 

 away from the site of the tall fir tree near which I had put the first 

 bird up, so that at last I had to give up the game in disgust and 

 return home. That they were nesting I felt sure and I got some 

 little encouragement when on one occasion the female tried to 

 dislodge several pieces of coarse grass that had got wedged in some 

 brushwood, but failing to do so she finally desisted. However, 

 to make up for it I got an insight into the affection of these birds 

 for one another, for never on the whole of that afternoon were 

 they very far apart, and on several occasions I saw the male feed 

 his mate with what he no doubt considered some extra tid-bit. 

 There was no chasing of any small birds or the spiking on thorns 

 of the food they obtained (which was always off the ground, and 

 consisted no doubt of beetles, grasshoppers and the like), every thing- 

 was eaten. On my return home I was thoroughly puzzled, as I 

 had examined every tree in the neighborhood except one, that 

 tall fir tree! But there, I said to myself, shrikes do not usually nest 

 in fir trees, and if they do, it would have to be above the average 

 height in this particular one, as all the lower branches had been 

 cut off as already mentioned. With this I went through all my 

 text books, with the same result, every author except two giving 

 apple trees or thorn bushes as the favorite site for the nest and 

 the elevation a low one, usually from four to ten feet above the 

 ground. The two exceptions mentioned above were Harold H. 

 Bailey who in his 'The Birds of Virginia' 1913, p. 268, says from 

 ten to thirty feet up, but gives no specific instance of a nest having 



