CHAPTER V 



MOTHER SHRIKE THE STOLID ONE 



THOUGH I met mother shrike many times 

 after her arrival on April 2d, it was not 

 till the 29th of the month that I called on 

 her, at home. Between these dates I never 

 passed along the railroad-track on a visit to the 

 drumming-ground of the sharp-tailed grouse that 

 I did not find her perched upon the telegraph 

 wires, or occasionally on the fence ; and when one 

 day she had a mate, I felt sure that they were 

 going to be neighbors during the summer. The 

 two resembled each other so closely that I was 

 quite unable to distinguish them, and, as many 

 male birds precede the females of their kind, on 

 the north-going journey, it is very probable that 

 in reality it was father shrike that I met first. 



That I called on the lady at home was some- 

 thing of an accident. I had been down at a 

 slough in the neighborhood, inspecting a black 



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