78 BIRDS 



with waving lines of darker gray. Bill hooked and hawk- 

 like. 



Female — ^With eye-band more obscure than male's, and 

 with more distinct brownish cast on her plumage. 



Range — Northern North America. South in winter to 

 middle portion of United States. 



Mijrraiions— November. April. A roving winter resident. 



Is it not curious that among our so-called song birds there 

 should be two harsh- voiced ones, about the size of robins, 

 the loggerhead and the northern shrike, with the hawk- 

 like habit of killing little birds and mice, and the squirrel's 

 and blue jay's trick of storing what they cannot eat."* They 

 are butchers, with the thrifty custom of hanging up their 

 meat, which only improves in flavor and tenderness after a 

 day or two of curing. Then, even if storms should 

 drive their little prey to shelter and snow should cover 

 the fields, they need not worry nor starve, seeing an 

 abundance in their larder provided for the proverbial 

 rainy day. 



In the Southern and Middle states, where the smaller 

 loggerhead shrike is most common, some say he looks like a 

 mocking bird; but the feathers on his back are surely quite 

 a different gray, a light bluish ash, and pearly on his under 

 parts, with white in his black wings and tail which is con- 

 spicuous as he flies. His powerful head, which is large for 

 his size, has a heavy black line running from the end of his 

 mouth across his cheek, and his strong bill has a hook on 

 the end which is useful in tearing the flesh from his victim's 

 bones. He really looks like nothing but just what he is — a 

 butcher-bird. 



See him, quiet and preoccupied, perched on a telegraph 



