LAND BIRDS. 559 
Family 60. LANIIDAS. Shrikes or Butcherbirds. 
Birds of about the size and general appearance of a Mockingbird, but 
we the strongly hooked bill of a hawk. Our species are separable as 
ollows: 
KEY TO SPECIES. 
A. Larger, wing over 4.25 inches. Northern Shrike. No. 253. 
AA. Smaller, wing 4 inches or less. Migrant Shrike. No. 254. 
(Note.—The Loggerhead Shrike and the White-rumped Shrike are so 
similar to the Migrant Shrike as to be separable only by experts. Both 
have been reported in Michigan, but thus far no unquestionable specimen 
has been taken. See Appendix.) 
253. Northern Shrike. Lanius borealis Vieill. (621) 
Synonyms: Great Northern Shrike, Winter Shrike, Butcher Bird, Winter Butcher 
Bird.—Lanius excubitor, Forst., 1771.—Lanius borealis, Vieill., 1807, and many other 
writers.—Collyrio borealis, Baird, 1858.—Collurio borealis, Baird, 1866, B. B. & R., Coues, 
Ridgw. and others. 
A bird about the size of a Robin, with bill notched and hooked like a 
falcon’s, must be a shrike and will have clear gray or brownish-gray upper 
parts, ashy or white under parts, wings and tail mainly black with large 
white patches, and a conspicuous black bar or stripe on the side of the 
head. If the wings measure 4} inches or more it will be the Northern 
Shrike or Butcher Bird; if the wing is but 4 inches or less it will be the 
Loggerhead or one of its varieties. In the Northern Shrike the breast 
and belly are ashy, usually marked with fine, dark, wavy cross-lines. 
Distribution.—Northern North America, south in winter to the middle 
portions of the United States. Breeds north of the United States. 
This bird is a not uncommon, but rather irregular, winter visitor from the 
north, arriving sometimes as early as October, more often not until Novem- 
ber, and lingering until March. While with us it is most likely to be seen 
in the neighborhood of towns and villages in pursuit of English Sparrows, 
or engaged in tearing out the brains of one which it has just caught and the 
body of which it will immediately afterward hang up on a sharp twig, the 
thorn of a haw, or the point of a barbed-wire fence. Occasionally when 
driving we see it perched on the telephone wire, and while watching for its 
prey it commonly selects the top of a bare tree, or at least some conspicuous 
point which overlooks the neighborhood. It flies with an undulating 
motion, somewhat like a woodpecker, generally gliding downward from 
its perch and crossing a field quite close to the earth, rising suddenly to 
the top of a bush or tree on which it perches. : 
It feeds largely on meadow-mice and small birds, often following a flock 
of Tree Sparrows or Juncos and killing many more than it needs for food. 
Of late years it has been quite serviceable in destroying English Sparrows, 
and in the parks of many large cities it has been carefully protected on 
this account. The habit of impaling its prey upon a sharp point is common 
to all members of the family and has never received a satisfactory ex- 
