OF ARTS AND SCIENCES 79 



1910-11 he writes under date of January 22, " Northern Shrikes 

 are about, and I know of two instances where they have attacked 

 English Sparrows on the street. Success to them ! " 



135. Lanius ludovicianus migrans. Migrant Shrike. 



An uncommon summer resident, a few pairs breeding in 

 the region. In 1899 a nest was located in the Starr King dis- 

 trict. It was placed about ten feet above the ground upon a 

 low branch of an elm near the trunk of the tree. The farmer 

 in whose pasture the tree stood told me that a pair of the same 

 birds had nested in that tree for four or five seasons preceding. 

 The birds were frequently seen by the roadside during the 

 month of July after the young had been raised. In the year 

 following the same location was not used, but the pair, or their 

 successors, removed farther back from the highway. In 1905 a 

 nest was built and young were reared in a stunted spruce stand- 

 ing apart in a pasture not far removed from the location first 

 spoken of. White twine and pieces of white cloth had been 

 woven into the rather coarse but strongly constructed nest. The 

 location was four to five feet above the ground, and the nest 

 rested upon a horizontal bough where it joined the trunk. The 

 birds were often seen during the month of July after the young 

 were on the wing. In 1907, on June 28, a pair with one imma- 

 ture bird was seen in L^ancaster near the Connecticut River, and 

 the nest, which was empty, was placed in a stunted spruce 

 nearby. In 1909, on June 8, a pair and nest was seen on the 

 North road in Lancaster in a roadside spruce. The nest was 

 placed from fifteen to twenty feet from the ground. The parent 

 birds were bringing food to their young. A week later, June 

 15, one adult bird and five young were seen on the branches of 

 the tree near the nest, the young evidently having just left 

 the nest. 



In several localities year by year occasionally one, two, or 

 three birds are seen, representing, doubtless, breeding pairs 

 and broods. They are always seen in open country and fre- 

 quently are perching on telephone or telegraph wires. They 



