306 BIEDS — LANIID^. 



nest. The eggs are usually five, white, with purple and reddish- brown 

 dots. They measure .78 by .60. 



I'AMILY LANIID^. THE SHRIKES. 



Primaries ten. Tarsi distinctly scutellate. Nostrils overhung (not eon ealed) by bristly 

 feathers. Kictal bristles present, strong. Bill powerful, compressed, strongly notched, 

 toothed and hooked. Wings and tail moderate. Large. Colors black, white, and gray. 



Sub-family Lantinjs. Typical Shrikes. 



Bill Tery powerful, mnch compressed, with a very prominent tooth behind the notch. 

 Wings considerably rounded. Tail rather long and graduated. Sides of tarsi in part 

 Bcntellate. Lateral toes abont equal. 



Genus LANIUS (Linnaeus.) Cones. 



Base of bill, including nostrils, covered by bristly feathers directed forwards. Tip of 

 under mandible bent upward in a hook. Eictns with long bristles. Tail longer than 

 wings, much rounded, the feathers broad. Claws sharp and much curved. Body ro- 

 bust. 



LanIUS BOEEALIS Vieillot. 

 O-reat HVortliern Slirilre ; Butclier bird. 



Lanins septentrionaHa, Kirtland, Ohio Geolog. Surv., 1838, 163, 181. — Eead, Fam. Vis- 

 itor, iii, 1853, 351 ; Proc. Phila. Acad. Nat. Sci., vi, 1853, SyS. 



Collyrio lorealis, Baird, P. E. K. Eep., ix, 1858, 325. — Wkbaton, Ohio Agric. Rep. for 

 1860, 364, 374 ; Reprint, 1861, 6, 16. 



Cotlurio horealis, Whbaton, Food of Birds, etc , Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1874, 565 ; Reprint, 

 1875, 5.— Langdon, Cat. Birds of Gin , 1877, 7 ; Revised List, Jonrn. Ciu. Soc. Nat. 

 Hist., i, 1879, 174 ; Reprint, 8. — Marshall, Journ. of Science (newspaper, Toledo, 

 O.), new series, ii, 1879, No, 6 (nesting). 



Northern Butcher Bird, Kirtland, Ohio Farmer, ix, 1860, 91. 



Lanius borealis, Vieillot, Ois. Am Sept , i, 1807, 90 — Coues, Birds Col. Val., i, 1878, 558. 

 Lanins septentrionalis, Bonaparte, Ann. Lyo. N. Y., ii, 1B26, 72, 438. 

 Collyrio borealis, Baird, Birds N. Am., 1858, 324. 

 CoUurio horealis, Baird, Rev. Am. Birds, 1866, 440. 



Clear bluish-ash, blanching on the rump and scapulars; below white, always vermic- 

 nlated with fine wavy blackish lines ; a black bar along side of the head, not meeting 

 its fellow across lorehead, interrupted by a white crescent on under eyelid, and bordered 

 above by hoary white that also occupies the extreme forehead ; wings and tail black, 

 the former with a large spot near base of the primaries, and the tips of most of the 

 quills white, the latter with nearly all the feathers broadly tipped with white, and with 

 concealed white bars ; bill and feet black. Length, 9-10 ; wing, 4J ; tail rather more. 

 The young are similar, but none of the colors are so fine or so intense ; the entire plum- 

 age has a brownish suffusion, and the bill is flesh-colored at base. 



Habitat, North America, northerly ; south in winter to about 35°. Bermudas. 



