Species II. LANIUS CABOLTNENSIS* 



LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE. 



[Plate XXII. rig. 5.] 



This species has a considerable resemblance to the Great American 

 Shrike. It differs, however, from that bird in size, being a full inch 

 shorter, and in color, being much darker on the upper parts ; and in 

 having the frontlet black. It also inhabits the warmer parts of the 

 United States ; while the Great American Shrike is chiefly confined to 

 the northern regions, and seldom extends to the south of Virginia. 



This species inhabits the rice plantations^ of Carolina and Georgia, 

 where it is protected for its usefulness in destroying mice. It sits, for 

 hours together, on the fence, beside the stacks of rice, watching like a 

 cat ; and as soon as it perceives a mouse, darts on it like a Hawk. It 

 also feeds on crickets and grasshoppers. Its note, in March, resembled 

 the clear creaking of a sign board, in windy weather. It builds its 

 nest, as I was informed, generally in a detached bush, much like that of 

 the Mocking-bird ; but as the spring was not then sufiiciently advanced, 

 I had no opportunity of seeing its eggs. It is generally known by the 

 name of the Loggerhead. 



This species is nine inches long and thirteen in extent ; the color 

 above is cinereous or dark ash; scapulars, and line over the eye, 

 whitish; wings black, with a small spot of white at the base of the 

 primaries, and tipped with white; a stripe of black passes along the 

 front through each eye, half way down the side of the neck ; eye dark 

 hazel, sunk below the eyebrow ; tail cuneiform, the four middle feathers 

 wholly black, the four exterior ones on each side tipped more and more 

 with white to the outer one which is nearly all white ; whole lower parts 

 white, and in some specimens, both of males and females, marked with 

 transverse lines of very pale brown ; bill and legs black. 



The female is considerably darker both above and below, but the 

 black does not reach so high on the front ; it is also rather less in size. 



* Laniur lAtdovicianus, Linn., which name must be adopted. In Buffon, pi. enl. 

 528, there is a figure of a young bird. — Synonymes : La Pie-griesche de la Louisiane, 

 Bbiss. 2, p. 162.— Lath. Ind. Orn. p. 69. 



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