A FIERCE LITTLE BIRD OF PREY 



289 



soon as caught. Once I saw a Butcher Bird seize a large 

 field mouse out of a freshly upturned furrow, and fly away 

 with it, struggling vigorously. The mammal was so large 

 and heavy it was surprising to see the bird bear it away. 

 Many times I have seen dried frogs hanging upon thorns, 

 where they had been 

 placed when fresh by 

 Shrikes. 



Every Shrike is a 

 feathered Jekyll and 

 Hyde. In summer and 

 autumn his harvest of in- 

 sects is everything that 

 could be expected. In 

 Dr. Judd's Bulletin No. 

 9, Biological Survey, De- 

 partment of Agriculture, 

 the list of groups of insects destroyed by the Loggerhead 

 Shrike fills a page, and includes such pests as caterpillars, 

 cut-worms, canker-worms, grasshoppers, crickets and weevils. 



But mark the winter and early spring record. Thirteen 

 species of small birds are numbered among the Loggerhead's 

 victims, of which five are sparrows, and others are the ground 

 dove, chimney swift, Bell's vireo and snow bunting. The 

 Butcher Bird is known to kill twenty-eight species of birds, 

 some of them valuable insect-destroyers, and none of them 

 to be spared without loss except the English sparrow. On 

 the other hand, this bird is a great destroyer of wild mice, 

 which in cold weather form one-fourth of its entire food. 



LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE. 



