2A.6 Palmer, Ottr Small Eastern Shrikes. ■ |_July 



appearance of this last name for a bird east of the Mississippi 

 River, a practice only too readily followed afterwards, for its use 

 extended to Maine and Canada and even to the Carolinas. Pro- 

 fessor Baird had five specimens of ludovicianus from Georgia and 

 an imperfect series from Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan, 

 besides a number from the West, and necessarily considered his 

 southern specimens as distinct from the others. 



Dr. Coues, with all the work of his predecessors before him. 

 and his South Carolina and western experiences, readily fell into 

 the view of considering the Upper Mississippi birds as inter- 

 mediate between L. ludovidamis and Z. excubitoroides, a conclusion 

 which has since remained unchanged.^ His work had the effect 

 of broadening the ornithological fieJdwork of numerous observers 

 who based their identifications primarily upon his results. Some 

 peculiar Shrike literature was thus encouraged, the effects of 

 which will be noted later. 



The only Shrikes mentioned by Dr. Gadow '^ that are probably 

 from the eastern States are two, a '^juv. sk." from Louisiana, and 

 an ''ad. sk." from " N. America," which may be anything. All 

 the others mentioned are from Mexico and Western America, yet 

 all are placed under one name L. ludovicianus, though it is stated 

 that Canadian examples " are very distinct from the extreme 

 southern form, which is confined to the southern States and 

 Mexico (Z. ludovicianus).'''' 



We now come to a phase of literature due to our increasing 

 knowledge of the range of these birds, for, as the taste for orni- 

 thology increased through' the middle and northeastern States, so 

 accounts of these birds became numerous. At first they were 

 ascribed to the larger species Z. borealis,, for we find records of 

 this bird) breeding in the New England States and Pennsylvania, 

 which were afterwards changed to ludovicianus or excubitoroides. 

 Then notices of the capture of L. excubitoroides became common, 

 though in many cases a wrong identification was later admitted 

 and change made to ludovicianus. But the records increased, 



iRey toN. A. Birds, 1872, 125; 1890, 338; B. N. W., 1S74, 103; B. C. V., 

 1878, 563. 



2 Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., Vol. VIII, 1S83, 246. 



