A FIERCE LITTLE BIRD OF PREY 289 
soon as caught. Once I saw a Butcher Bird seize a large 
field mouse out of a freshly upturned furrow, and fly away 
with it, struggling vigorously. The mammal was so large 
and heavy it was surprising to see the bird bear it away. 
Many times I have seen dried frogs hanging upon thorns, 
where they had been 
placed when fresh by 
Shrikes. 
Every Shrike is a 
feathered Jekyll and 
Hyde. In summer and 
autumn his harvest of in- 
sects is everything that 
could be expected. In 
Dr. Judd’s Bulletin No. 
9, Biological Survey, De- 
LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE. 
partment of Agriculture, 
the list of groups of insects destroyed by the Loggerhead 
Shrike fills a page, and includes such pests as caterpillars, 
cut-worms, canker-worms, grasshoppers, crickets and weevils. 
But mark the winter and early spring record. Thirteen 
species of small birds are numbered among the Loggerhead’s 
victims, of which five are sparrows, and others are the ground 
dove, chimney swift, Bell’s vireo and snow bunting. The 
Butcher Bird is known to kill twenty-eight species of birds, 
some of them valuable insect-destroyers, and none of them 
to be spared without loss except the English sparrow. On 
the other hand, this bird is a great destroyer of wild mice, 
which in cold weather form one-fourth of its entire food. 
