140 Birds of Lakeside and Prairie 



to say that in the winter season the shrike is abundant in the 

 parks of the great smoky city by the lake, and that not infre- 

 quently it invades the pulsing business heart of the town. No 

 one ever saw the placidity of the shrike disturbed in the least. 

 It will perch on the top of a small tree and never move so 

 much as a feather, barring its tail, which is in well-nigh con- 

 stant motion, when the clanging electric cars rush by or when 

 the passing wagons shake its perch to the foundation. 



The great northern shrike reaches the city from its habi- 

 tat beyond the Canada line about the first of November. 

 For four years in succession I saw my first northern shrike of 

 the season on November 1st, a day set down in the church 

 calendar for the commemoration of "All Saints." It is emi- 

 nently in keeping with the hypocritical character of Mr. 

 Shrike, sinner that he is, to put in an appearance on so holy 

 a day. From the time of his coming until late March, and 

 sometimes well into April, the shrike remains an urban resi- 

 dent and harries the sparrow tribe to his heart's content. 



As far as my own observation goes, the great northern 

 shrike in winter does not put very much food in cold storage. 

 I have never seen many victims of the bird's rapacity impaled 

 upon thorns. Perhaps I should qualify this statement a bit 

 by saying that I have never seen many victims hanging up in 

 one place. I have watched carefully something like a score 

 of the birds, and while every one occasionally hung up one of 

 its victims, there was nothing approaching the "general store- 

 house" of food, so often described. It is my belief that this 

 habit of impaling its prey upon thorns or of hanging it by the 

 neck in a crotch is one that is confined largely to the summer 

 season, and especially to the nesting period. 



The great northern shrike has been said by some writers 



