628 Field Museum of Natural History — Zoology, Vol. IX. 



mon to find bushes ornamented in this manner with the bodies of 

 their victims. The nest is a large rough structure, placed on a crotch 

 or branch of some tree. 



Genus LANIUS Linn. 



291. Lanius borealis ViEiLL. 



Northern Shrike. Butcher Bird. 



Distr.: Northern North America, breeding in the far north (Lab- 

 rador, Ungava, Alaska, etc.) ; south in winter to southern Illinois, 

 Kansas, Arizona, etc. 



Adult: Upper plumage, clear ash-gray, tinged with whitish on 

 rump and scapulars; under parts, dull white, marked with numerous 

 narrow wavy bars of dusky; a black stripe through the eye on sides 

 of head, and a narrow white mark above the eye; primaries, blackish, 

 with white band; tail, blackish, the four outer feathers, tipped with 

 white, the outer feather having the terminal third and the entire 

 outer web, white. 



Sexes similar. 



Immature: Markings similar to adult, but upper plumage, brown- 

 ish gray ; black streak on sides of head replaced by dusky. 



Length, 9.30 to 10.30; wing, 4.50; tail, 4.15; bill, .60. 



This species is a common winter resident in northern Illinois 

 and Wisconsin, from the latter part of October until March; and 

 casual or rare in southern Illinois. 



It is hawk-like in disposition and well deserves the name of 

 Butcher Bird, as it delights in killing small birds and animals and 

 impaling them upon thorns and sharp twigs. 



292. Lanius ludovicianus Linn. 

 Loggerhead Shrike. 



Distr.: Southern United States, from Texas eastward and north 

 to Arkansas, Tennessee, and Illinois (replaced in the northern states 

 by the Migrant Shrike). 



Special characters: Upper parts, slate-color; under parts, almost 

 white, with no decided tinge of gray; bill, stout and large; tail, 

 longer than the wing (carpus to tip) . 



Adult: Upper plumage, slaty gray; a black stripe on sides of 

 head through the eye and continuing in a very narrow black line 

 across the forehead at base of bill ; under parts, white, often faintly 



