364 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



and it may unquestionably be set down as one of those species of birds 

 which have gradually increased in numbers since the clearing of the country, 

 like the Prairie horned lark, having invaded the region principally from 

 the Mississippi valley. The Migrant shrike arrives from the south from 

 the 20th to the 30th of March, and usually disappears in the fall during 

 the month of October, but a few evidently remain through the winter, as 

 Dutcher has a Long Island specimen taken on the 21st of November. 

 The author once saw a bird of this species on New Year's day in the town 

 of Concord, Erie county. The bird alighted on a telegraph wire not more 

 than 2 rods from the observer and was viewed in the best possible light, 

 both the size and all the markings indicating this species beyond a doubt; 

 but those are the only two winter records which are before me. On Long 

 Island the Migrant shrike appears as a transient, usually during the last 

 week in August, sometimes as late as the 30th of September, evidently 

 those birds which breed in eastern New England and Maine migrating 

 along the Atlantic coast. Except for a single record given by Fisher 

 (N. O. C. Bui., 4:61) when a young bird was captured at Ossining, June 

 16, 1877, there seems to be no definite record of the breeding of this species 

 in southeastern New York, and it is extremely rare both in the lower 

 Hudson valley and in the vicinity of New York City except during the fall 

 migration, as above stated. 



Haunts and habits. This species prefers open fields with sparse 

 growth of apple and thorn trees. It is usually seen seated on the top of 

 a dead branch, on a telegraph wire or a fence post awaiting insects or small 

 birds to make their appearance. Its flight, like that of the Northern 

 shrike, is rather low and undulating, and when about to alight usually 

 shoots upward some distance to choose an elevated stand. The nest is 

 commonly placed in a dense apple tree or thorn bush from 5 to 15 feet 

 from the ground, usually so low that the observer can look into it while 

 standing on the ground. It is a bulky structure, composed of sticks, 

 weed stalks, coarse grasses and a few leaves, lined with softer materials, 

 bark, patches of hair, feathers and wool. The eggs are 5 to 7 in number. 



