FOOD OF THE BUTCHERBIRD. 19 
MAMMALS EATEN BY THE BUTCHERBIRD. 
The stomach of a shrike that has recently eaten a mouse is found to 
be filled with a large ball of fur, with bones in the center. It is impos- 
sible for these large masses to pass through the small intestine, there- 
fore they are expelled through the mouth. A number of birds, includ- 
ing the European shrike (Lanius excubitor), are known to disgorge 
pellets after the manner of birds of prey. 
Mice were found in one-third of the stomachs examined, constituting 
one-fourth of the food, and were eaten most frequently in March. Of 
these mice 15 were identified as follows: 1 white-footed mouse (Pero- 
myscus), 1 harvest mouse (Reithrodontomys), and 8 meadow mice 
(Microtus). This last mouse is the one that oftenest falls a victim to 
hawks and owls. Mr. William Brewster, of Cambridge, Mass., states 
in The Auk (Vol. XI, p. 329) that he saw a shrike seize a large meadow 
mouse ‘by the back, drag it across the snow, and then dropit. The 
mouse, instead of trying to escape, sprang at the shrike and drove it 
back several feet. Finally the bird, by several well-aimed passes, suc- 
ceeded in intimidating the mouse, and then, as the latter turned to run 
away, caught it by the neck and worried it to death, as a terrier would 
arat. The mouse was afterwards borne off in the shrike’s claws and 
fixed in the fork of a tree. Meadow mice, besides consuming grass and 
grain, also girdle fruit trees, and the house mouse, in addition to wast- 
ing corn in the granary, wantonly destroys grain standing in the shock. 
Dr. E. A. Mearus, United States Army, states in a letter that shrikes 
in Minnesota during March live exclusively upon meadow mice (Micro- 
tus), and Mr. W. L. Scott (The Auk, Vol. I, p. 158) cites an instance 
in which a butcherbird was caught in the act of giving chase to a 
chipmunk (Tamias striatus). 
Carrion is sometimes eaten. Prof. F. E. L. Beal, while at Ames, Iowa, 
in January, 1880, saw a butcherbird fly over the brown frozen prairie 
to a carcass of a cow, where it lit on one of the ribs and greedily tore 
off shreds of the flesh. 
INSECTS EATEN BY THE BUTCHERBIRD. 
Active insects are much more liable than sluggish ones to fall victims 
to the butcherbird, because objects which at rest can not be discrim- 
inated are instantly seen when moving. Thus it happens that flying 
grasshoppers and running beetles form a large proportion of the food 
of this bird. Grasshoppers and crickets (Orthoptera), which are eaten 
during every month from October to April, form 24 percent of the total 
volume of food, and for October and November together these insect 
pests form more than half of the food. Compared with Orthoptera, the 
beetles (Coleoptera) eaten are of minor importance, amouuting to only 
6 percent of the food. More than half these beetles belong to the 
family Carabide, the members of which prey upon insect pests. Cater- 
