BIRDS OP KANSAS 65 



rate their work was progressing, I think the nest would 

 have been completed during the day. I do not know that 

 it is the usual custom for the female to confine her labors 

 to the plain and necessary work, and the male to the decora- 

 tive and ornamental parts, but it was so in this case. It 

 may be that the time of laying was near at .hand, and that 

 the female felt the pressing necessity for the completion 

 of the interior; for, in such cases, I have seen nests of 

 birds enlarged and completed by the males, while the 

 females were sitting upon their treasures. 

 ' Eggs three to five, usually four; in form, oval. 



X. WfllTE-KUMPED SHEIKE. 



Lanius ludovicianus excubitorides ( SWAINS.). 



Summer resident; occasionally lingers into winter 

 Arrive early in the spring ;* begin laying about the first 

 of May. 



HABITAT. The central regions of North America, north 

 to the Saskatchewan, southwesterly to Lower California, 

 and over the table lands of Mexico ; occasionally stragglers 

 in the States far eastward. 



Iris brown ; bill, legs, feet and claws black. 



This pale race of the Loggerhead Shrike is similar to it 

 in habits and actions, and, like it, occasionally kills small 

 birds and mice, but feeds almost wholly upon grasshop- 

 pers, beetles and crickets. It also has the habit of the 

 family of impaling its victims on thorns, etc., but less 

 frequently than the Northern Shrike. Its ordinary voice 

 is harsh and creaking. It has, however, considerable tal- 

 ent in the way of mimicry, especially in uttering the notes 

 of birds in distress; and, during the early mating season, 



5 



