Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 25 



Missouri the Migrant intergrades into the paler sub- 

 species, the White-rumped Shrike, with much more white 

 in its dress. All the different subspecies of the Logger- 

 head are much smaller than the Northern Shrike, the dif- 

 ference amounting to one and one-third inch in total 

 length, and are of less robust build. The general color- 

 ation is the same in both species. One of the character- 

 istic, distinguishing markings, the white under eyelid, has 

 escaped the painter of the charts, but the difference in 

 the black stripe through the eye is plainly visible, for in 

 the Loggerhead the black extends over the forehead. 

 Another character is the wavy, darkish lines on the un- 

 derparts of the Northern Shrike in distinction from the 

 plain white of the Loggerhead. While in the L^ited 

 States in the winter the Northern Shrikes live mostly on 

 mice, but lacking this favorite food they kill small birds 

 and are said to play havoc in some places with the Eng- 

 lish Sparrows. They are courageous birds ; one has been 

 seen to attack a Hairy Woodpecker, a bird as large and 

 strong as the Shrike itself. I myself have witnessed the 

 attack by one of our Migrant Shrikes upon a Downy 

 Woodpecker, which he held on the ground and would 

 have killed if I had not been attracted to the scene by 

 the pitiful cries of the Downy. 



There are numerous species of Shrikes, inhabiting 

 most parts of the world. All have the habit of impaling 

 their prey on thorns or barbed wire, or fixing the mice 

 or small birds in forks of twigs in order to get at them 

 more easily, or to preserve them for the future, if they 

 have captured more than they can dispose of at once. In 

 Germany, where there are four species, they are, for this 

 reason, called Neuntoter or Domdreher. Our summer 

 Shrikes spend the winter in the southern states, but re- 

 turn to us very early and are among the first birds to 

 build nests, often having fully fledged young in May. 

 Young ones taken out of the nest and reared bv hand 



