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THE GREAT CINEREOUS SHRIKE 



Lanius excubitor, Linn. 



PLATE CXCII. Male, Female, and Young. 



Although this species spends the greater part of the yeai' in our 

 most Eastern States, and in countries still farther north, many individuals 

 remain in the mountainous districts of the Middle States, and breed 

 there. In severe winters, it migrates as far south as the neighbourhood 

 of the city of Natchez, on the Mississippi, where I have shot several and 

 seen many more. In Kentucky it is not a rare bird at that season, but 

 along the coasts of our southern States I have never met with it, nor have 

 I heard of its having been seen there. 



In spring and summer it retires from the low lands of the Middle 

 States, to the mountainous districts, where it generally remains until 

 autumn. About the 20th of April, the male and his mate are seen en- 

 gaged in building their nest, in the covered and secluded parts of the 

 forests. I found several of their nests placed on bushes not above ten 

 feet from the ground, without any appearance of choice as to the tree, 

 but generally towards the top, and placed in a fork. The nest is as large 

 as that of the Robin, and is composed externally of coarse grasses, leaves 

 and moss, internally of fibrous roots, over which is a bed of the feathers 

 of the Wild Turkey and Pheasant (Tetrao uinbellus). The eggs are 

 four or five, of a dull cinereous tint, thickly spotted and streaked with 

 light brown towards the larger end. The period of incubation is fifteen 

 days. 



The young are at first of a dark bluish colour, but when they become 

 covered with feathers, they assume a dull rufous tint above, and are 

 transversely barred with zig-zag lines from the throat to the abdomen. 

 In this State they remain until late in autumn, and might seem to one 

 not acquainted with them to be of a different species. They remain with 

 their parents all that time, and not unfrequently even during winter" 

 Caterpillars, spiders and insects of various kinds form their first food, to- 

 gether with small fruits ; but as they grow up, their parents bring them 

 the flesh of small birds, on which they feed greedily even before they 

 leave the nest. 



