1917 BIRDS OF THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ISLANDS 89 
Lanius sp. ? (27) Richardson, Condor, x, 1908, p. 68. 
Lanius mearnsi (28) Linton, Condor, x, 1908, p. 182. 
Lanius I[udovicianus]. mearnsi (29) Linton, Condor, x, 1908, p. 182. 
Lanius lLudovicianus]. anthonyi (30) Linton, Condor, x, 1908, p. 182. 
Fairly common resident of most of the islands. Originally deseribed by E. 
A. Mearns (7) from a specimen collected by R. H. Beck on Santa Cruz Island, 
May 6, 1897. Darker and smaller than gambeli. Another island subspecies, L. /. 
mearns? was deseribed by R. Ridgway (22, 23) and was at one time accepted by 
the A. O. U. Committee (24), but after its validity had been questioned by a 
number of writers, it was finally discarded (25). The type was from San Cle- 
mente Island and its characters as given, were: similar to anthonyi but upper 
parts darker and upper tail coverts abruptly white, more white on scapulars, 
white spot at base of primaries larger, and underparts less strongly tinged with 
eray. 
On San Clemente these birds are distributed over most of the island. In an 
especially favorable little canyon several pairs will congregate, and I have found 
two pairs breeding in such a place not a hundred yards apart, while a third nest 
was within a quarter of a mile. On either side of this wash, however, there were 
no birds for long distances. C. B. Linton (28) found a nest of small young 
March 1, 1907, and I encountered a family of juveniles that were strong on the 
wing, March 23, 1915. During the first part of April, second nests were in pro- 
cess of construction. On the western end of the island at least, the nest is almost 
invariably placed a couple of feet above the ground in a certain kind of thorny 
bush, and is substantially constructed of twigs and weed stems and lined with 
sheep wool. 
On Catalina shrikes are rather rare, and I have seen only an oceasional indi- 
vidual. C. H. Richardson (27) met fully fledged young here that were being fed 
by the parents in April. Reported from Santa Barbara Island by J. G. Cooper 
(1), but no one else has met with the species there. H. Robertson and V. W. 
Owen (14) saw a pair, and found a nest full of young, on Anacapa, June 4, 1899, 
apparently the only record for this island. 
In the vicinity of Prisoner’s Harbor, Santa Cruz Island, A. van Rossem and 
1 found shrikes to be decidedly rare. A favorite perch was at the very top of 
some tall dead pine, and from this the bird would fly when the observer was a 
surprisingly long distance off. J. Mailliard (9) found two nests here during 
April, 1898, one, containing a set of seven eggs, placed in the middle of a brush 
pile, and the other, with six eggs, in a gum tree. Present on Santa Rosa, where 
H. J. Lelande and O. W. Howard (74) saw a bird June 8, 1910. 
Numerically I believe that this subspecies is one of the rarest birds in the 
country, and it is certainly one of the very shyest of the small land birds. No 
matter what strategy the hunter employs, the shrikes seem perfectly capable of 
matehing it, and except near the nest, it is well nigh hopeless to try and get 
within gunshot of one. Even the alarmed shrieking of their own offspring will 
fail to attract them. While on Clemente in the spring of 1915, I collected the 
male and three young of a family of these birds. The following day I took the 
female of another nest a short distance away, but did not try to deprive the 
