LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE. 163 



is, according to Dr. Bachman, usually made in the outer limbs 

 of a tree such as the live-oak or sweet-gum, and often on a 

 cedar 15 to 30 feet from the ground. It is coarsely made of 

 dry crooked twigs, and lined with root-fibres and slender grass. 

 The eggs, 3 to 5, are greenish white. Incubation is per- 

 formed by both sexes in turn, but each bird procures its own 

 food in the intervals. They rear two broods in the season. 

 Its manners resemble those of a Hawk; it sits silent and 

 watchful until it espies its prey on the ground, when it pounces 

 upon it, and strikes first with the bill, in the manner of small 

 birds, seizing the object immediately after in its claws ; but it 

 seldom attacks birds except when previously wounded. 



The Loggerhead is now said to be restricted to the southern 

 portion of the Eastern States north to Virginia, Ohio, southern 

 Illinois, and the Great Lakes; and through New York to north- 

 ern New England and New Brunswick. 



Note. — The White-rumped Shrike (Z. ludovicianus excu- 

 bitorides) is a pale form restricted to the Western plains, and which 

 in habits as in appearance differs but little from the Loggerhead. 



