564 DISTRIBUTION OF LANIUS LUDOVICIANUS 



which were certainly referable to both species, if our technical 

 characters are to be relied upon in the least. 



The real Loggerheads, such as Wilson, Audubon, and Bach- 

 man talk about, are developed to the highest degree in the 

 South Atlantic States. I found them common in South Caro- 

 lina, and others attest their occurrence along the whole of the 

 same seaboard, where they seem to be specially numerous. But 

 they are not confined to this area ; for, as just stated, they occur 

 in the Mississippi Valley and in New England, if not also in the 

 still more distant countries to which they have been accredited 

 by some writers. 



The New England record is specially interesting. It has 

 long been asserted that a Shrike, not L. borealis, occurs occa- 

 sionally in this quarter j but we have only recently acquired 

 satisfactory evidence that such is the case. L. excubitorides was 

 originally given as a New England bird by Emmons and Pea- 

 body, apparently upon the authority of Nuttall, who stated it 

 to be a species "which in winter is seen in the vicinity of Bos- 

 ton " (Man. ii. 564). But this seemed so hypothetical that I 

 retained the species in my New England List of 1868 as one 

 " of very doubtful occurrence, though known in New York and 

 Canada West". Putnam's citation of "C. ludovicianus" rests 

 upon no more. sufficient evidence, as it refers in fact to the same 

 authorities, and Linsley's " Lanius carolinensis " is in no better 

 plight. Dr. Brewer was therefore right in excluding excubi- 

 torides from his category of observed inhabitants of New 

 England, until its occurrence there should be established by 

 positive proof. The required evidence has lately been fur- 

 nished by Mr. H. A. Purdie, who states (Bull. Nutt. Club, ii. 

 1877, 21) that "a typical example of this variety was shot by 

 Mr. Jencks in Cranston, E. I., September 2, 1873, and is now 

 in his collection." 



So far as I am acquainted with the record, the occurrence of 

 any other Shrike than L. borealis in New England was first 

 established in 1873 by Mr. H. A. Purdie (Am. Nat. vii. 115), 

 who speaks of a specimen, considered to be a true Loggerhead, 

 procured in West Newton, Mass., October 21, 1872. This occur- 

 rence authorized Dr. Brewer to include ludovicianus in his list, 

 as he did, with the remark " accidental, (Mass.) " The next New 

 England specimen, referred to the same variety, was also taken 

 in Massachusetts, at Newtonville, in 1874, as recorded by Mr. 

 C. J. Maynard (Amer. Sportsm. v. Feb. 13, 1875, p. 313). A 



