XORTH AMERICA* BIRDS. 415 



PHAINOPEPLA. PhQinopepla nitens (Swains.) Geog. Disk South- 

 western United States, from Southwestern Texas westward; north to Southern 

 Utah, Nevada, Fort Crook, California and south to Cape St. Lucas and the Valley 

 of Mexico. 



A singular bird, known as the Shining Fly-snapper, or Black-crested Fly-catcher. 

 It inhabits the southern portion of Western United States abundant in Western 

 Texas, Southern New Mexico, Arizona and California. Its resorts are regions 

 of low shrubbery and wooded land in the vicinity of water. According to 

 Mr. W. E. D. Scott, this bird has a peculiar, bell-like, whistling note that is very 

 musical. The breeding season is in May and June. The nest is built in trees of 

 various kinds, oftener perhaps in oaks and mesquites, ranging in height from eight 

 to twenty-five feet above ground. It is a flat, loosely made affair, and the curious, 

 light-colored vegetable substances twigs, stems, mosses, and soft, downy or cottony 

 fibres seem to harmonize well with the odd coloration of the eggs. These are two 

 or three in number. The majority of the nests found by Mr. Scott in Pima county, 

 Arizona, contained three eggs, while a large series of nests, with eggs, collected at 

 San Gorgonia Pass, California, by Mr. Herron, during the months of May and June, 

 1883, were of two eggs each. They are of a yellowish or light or dull gray, thickly 

 speckled (some grotesquely marked) with a neutral tint, dark brown and blackish. 

 Ten eggs measure, .84x.64, .87x.63, .88x.69, .89x69, .90x.70, .90x.69, .91x.70, ,91x 

 .67, .90x.63, .91x.69 inches. 



621. NORTHERN SHRIKE. Lanius borealis (Vieill.) Geog. Dist. Northern 

 North America; south in winter to the Potomac, Ohio Valley, Kansas, Colorado, 

 Nevada, California and Arizona. 



The Shrikes are birds of a cruel, reckless, quarrelsome nature rapacious and 

 carniverous, feeding on grasshoppers and other insects, together with lizards, small 

 birds, and quadrupeds which they are able to overpower. They often boldly attack 

 cage-birds, even in the presence of their owners. Their most noted trait is that 

 of impaling small birds, mice, and other prey on thorns and sharp twigs. In the 

 breeding season the Great Northern Shrike, or Butcher-bird, is found throughout 

 the whole of North America, north of United States. It is said to breed in Maine 

 and it probably does in other New England States. It inhabits woodland and thick- 

 et, and is often found in upland fields. When insect food becomes scarce this spe- 

 cies frequently visits cities in pursuit of the European House Sparrow. This species 

 breeds north of the United States. The nest is a rather rude, bulky affair, made of 

 twigs, grass and stems, matted together and lined with down and feathers. It is usu- 

 ally built in thorny trees, bushes, cr hedges, and often no attempt is made at con- 

 cealment. The eggs are four to six in number, dull whitish or greenish-gray, marked 

 and spotted with obscure purple, light brown, or olive; average size, 1.08x.79 inches. 



622. LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE. Lanius ludovicianus Linn. Geog. Dist. 

 Eastern United States, west to the Plains; north to Northern New England. Breeds 

 from the Gulf States to Virginia and casually north, on the Atlantic coast, to South- 

 ern New Jersey; in the interior northward to the Great Lakes, and through Western 

 Pennsylvania and New York north to New England. 



This form of Shrike inhabits the more southeastern portions of Eastern United 

 States. Dr. Coues says, in its typical manifestation it is characteristic of the South 

 Atlantic States; but specimens more like ludovicianus than exculntorides occur north 

 to New England and west to Ohio.* It is a common resident in Central and Southern 



* Key to N. A. Birds, p. 338. 



