166 BIRDS OF OHIO. 



Struggles and sufferings of their victims like veritable bar- 

 barians. That this is a libel on the character of the shrikes 

 any one may prove by studying them at first hand. They 

 are pretty fair singers, but the summer form is seldom heard 

 singing unless one happens upon the performer unobserved. 

 The Northern Shrike sings from his tree-top perch in the 

 midst of a snowstorm in midwinter. All shrikes are soli- 

 tary birds except while nesting and for some time after the 

 young have left the nest. 



328. (621.) Lanius borealis Vieill. 72. 



Northern Shrike. 

 Synonyms: Lanius septentrionalis, CoUyrio borealis, Colluri.o 

 borealis. 

 Great Northern Shrike, Butcher-bird, Great American 

 Shrike, Great Butcher Shrike. 

 .Kirtland, Ohio Geol. Surv., 1838, 163, 181. 



This solitary shrike is a winter resident over the entire 

 state, but it is irregular south and rare everywhere, except 

 ■occasionally along the lake front. It visits towns and vil- 

 lages during extreme weather for the sake of the hordes of 

 English Sparrows. In the fields and woods it is always on 

 . the lookout for field mice or other rodents, and unwary spar- 

 rows. 



The food of this bird consists of birds 35 per cent., insects' 

 40 per cent., mice 25 per cent. Of the birds many are En- 

 glish Sparrows. While the other birds are useful species they 

 constitute less than 25 per cent, of the whole food. It seems 

 clear, therefore, that, contrary to his reputation, the Butch- 

 er-bird is one of our useful winter visitors and should be 

 encouraged to visit the settlements where English Sparrows 

 are to be so easily found. The habit of impaling its victims 

 on thorns has grown out of the necessity of storing food 

 against a time of scarcity, and is not an indication of the 

 savage or barbarous instincts so often attributed to these 

 ; birds. 



The Northern Shrike reaches northern Ohio about the 

 first of October and the southern counties a week later. It 

 sometimes tarries until the first of April in Lorain county. 



