LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE. 317 
hedge-rows. In south-western Missouri as well as in Texas I have observed this 
Butcher-bird. Near Houston I found several nests, and in Fayette, Bastrop, and Lee 
County I also met with the bird during the breeding season, although much less frequently 
than in Wisconsin and Illinois. Everywhere they prefer for nesting places ‘hedge-rows 
and gardens. It is partial to those open distri&ts where plenty of thorny trees are 
growing. Where the orange is cultivated, where the honey-locust with its terribly armed 
trunks are growing, where miles of hedge-rows of the osage orange mark the boundary 
lines and road-sides in the prairie distriéts of Illinois, where white-thorns and wild crab 
trees grow on the woodlands’ edge, there we may look for these marauders. These 
thorny trees ‘‘seem indispensable to its presence for the reason that the slender, sharp- 
pointed thorns are required for impaling its prey, and the matted impenetrable covert 
for the concealment or protection of its nest.’’ (Ridgway.) 
Where these birds feel safe they seek the company of man, nesting frequently 
near dwellings. They are such innocent looking creatures that most people are not 
aware, what bold brigands they are, and in how short a time they destroy the idyllic 
life of our familiar garden songsters. When the Shrikes have young they will rid even a 
large orchard and garden of its feathered inhabitants. They kill almost every bird from 
a Catbird down to a Wren, murdering many more than they will eat. In my fine orchard 
and garden in south-western Missouri a pair of these innocent looking marauders built 
their nest in a very thorny honey-locust near my house. A large number of different 
birds were breeding in the ornamental trees and shrubs near the dwelling and in the 
orchard, and their beautiful songs resounded from early morn till late at evening on all 
sides. In a very short time this happy and idyllic life was disturbed and the locality 
desolate. Many of the old birds were found impaled on sharp thorns of the honey- 
locusts, while their offspring were carried to the young Shrikes. Although the Butcher- 
birds destroy many grasshoppers and mice, I do not think they should be tolerated 
among other birds, especially in gardens. In many of the orange groves of Florida no 
birds are found except a pair of Shrikes, and this holds true of many northern gardens. 
As the three forms of this Shrike agree in every respect, and as all are alike “savage 
and blood-thirsty,” I shall not describe them separately. Dr. Elliott Coues, in “Birds 
of the Colorado Valley” (p. 547 ff.), gives the following classical sketch of the Butcher-bird : 
“Matching the bravest of the brave among birds of prey in deeds of daring, and 
no less relentless than reckless, the Shrike compels that sort of deference, not unmixed 
with indignation, we are accustomed to accord to creatures of seeming insignificance, 
whose exploits demand much strength, great spirit, and insatiate love of carnage. We 
cannot be indifferent to the marauder who takes his own wherever he finds it—a feudal 
baron who holds his own with undisputed sway—an ogre whose victims are so many 
more than he can eat, that he actually keeps a private graveyard for the balance. 
“Lest such a picture may seem to be exaggerated, let me make good my state- 
ments. The Shrike’s food consists of such birds, quadrupeds, and reptiles as he can 
capture and overpower, together with insects, chiefly of the larger kinds, and especially 
grasshoppers. These he pursues, attacks, and destroys quite as a Hawk does; and he 
has the very curious habit of impaling their bodies upon thorns. 
‘Numberless illustrations of the spirit the Shrike displays might be given. Though 
