BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 861 
and tail black, former with a white patch at base of primaries 
and tips of small quills, the lateral feathers of which are 
tipped with white; bill blackish-brown, considerably lighter at 
the base; black stripe from the bill through and behind the 
eye, beneath the latter interrupted by a whitish-crescent. 
Length, 9.85; wing, 4.50; tail, 4.80; its graduation, 0.90. 
Habitat, northern North America. 
LANIUS LUDOVICIANUS EXCUBITORIDES (Swaryson). 
(622a. ) 
WHITE-RUMPED SHRIKE. 
The White-Rumped Shrike is a very common summer resi- 
dent of the State, reaching this latitude about the 1st of April. 
It is occasionally seen still earlier when the season opens early 
enough to afford it the proper food. Mr. Washburn found it 
at Otter Tail lake ‘‘common late in October,” and said by the 
people living in the vicinity, to remain all winter. While this 
may be to an exceptional extent true, for it is certainly so in 
-respect to a number of species, I am confident it cannot be so 
as a rule with the White-Rumped Shrike. Prof. Herrick 
found it abundant for its species, as late as October 18th, at 
Lake Shatek. Iam inclined to think that considerable num- 
bers spend the winter in southern Iowa and northern Missouri. 
Wherever trees have been planted along the highways of the 
prairies that have formed top enough to conceal the nest, the 
observer may count safely upon finding it. 
In sections where there is timber enough to give this bird 
its choice, the nest will usually be found in a rather small tree 
standing a little way into a pasture field, if not in the one that 
is the sole representative of the field. I have never met either 
bird or nest in the forest proper. It is constructed of sticks 
interlaced with shreds of bark, coarse weeds, fibers of wood, 
roots, grass, strings, wool and a fair supply of feathers. It is 
a rude, bulky structure, but, well lined with feathers, serves 
its purpose perfectly in bringing out the early brood, for 
which five or six eggs are laid about the 25th of April. They 
are of a dull, white color, spotted with varying shades of 
brown. Two broods are reared. Their principal food consists 
of beetles, but includes also various insects, and not infre.- 
quently mice and small birds. Not specially attractive in re- 
pose, it will instantly arrest the observer’s attention when it 
flies, for then are revealed the remarkable contrasts of its 
blueish ash, black and white colors, in a manner entirely its 
