ANNOTATED LIST OF THE BIRDS 303 



MIGRANT SHRIKE (Lanius ludovicianus migrans) 

 Our two Shrikes are difficult birds to separate in life until 

 both are well known, and contrary to a general impression are 

 likely to occur together at certain seasons of the year. The 

 immature Northern is easily distinguished by its strong 

 brownish cast above, the marked vermiculation or barring 

 below, and the indistinctness of the eye-stripe. Adults, 

 however, are another matter. The difference in size is 

 not sufficiently great to be of value. Some students believe 

 that the Migrant Shrike is a clearer gray above, but this 

 idea is fallacious, and is based on comparison with an 

 immature Northern, the commonest plumage seen here. 

 The text-book character is the eye-stripe, which is broader 

 and more conspicuous between the eye and the bill of the 

 Migrant, and runs around the forehead as a narrow line of 

 black, but this latter point is exceedingly hard to determine 

 in life. By far the best character, not mentioned in any 

 popular text-book, is the color of the bill, which is solid black 

 in the Migrant Shrike, while the basal half or third of the 

 lower mandible of the Northern Shrike is abruptly flesh-colored . 

 This character is much more easily determinable in my ex- 

 perience than the amount of black on the lores. 



The Migrant Shrike is a rare transient in fall chiefly in 

 August and September, but occasionally lingers into the 

 winter. It is excessively rare in spring, and has bred casually 

 on one occasion. On Long Island it seems to occur with more 

 regularity than elsewhere in our area. 



Long Island. Rare fall transient, August 20 to November 21, 

 and exceptionally later. 



ORIENT. Rare fall transient, August 20, 1915 to February 

 7, 1919. 



LONG BEACH. Recorded by Mr. E. P. Bicknell on August 

 31, 1916 and October 9, 1919. 



New York State. A fledgling collected June 16, 1877 at 

 Ossining (Fisher) must have bred in the vicinity; recorded from 

 August 18, 1906 to September 2, 1907 on Staten Island (Chapin). 



