LAND BIRDS. 563 
254. Migrant Shrike. Lanius ludovicianus migrans W. Palmer. (622c) 
Synonyms: White-rumped_ Shrike (in part), Loggerhead Shrike (part), Butcher-bird, 
Summer Butcher-bird.—Lanius lud._migrans, Palmer, 1898.—Lanius excubitroides, 
Peabody, 1839.—L. excubitoroides, Hoy, 1853.—Lanius ludovicianus, Woodh., 1853, 
ant ie authors from 1875 to 1898.—Collurio ludovicianus, Allen, Ridgw., Merriam, 
and others. 
Plate LVI and Figures 130, 181. 
Known by its close resemblance to the Northern Shrike, but smaller 
(wing 4 inches or less); under parts grayish-white to pale bluish-ash, 
Naa without any wavy cross lines. The wings are slightly longer than 
e tail. 
Distribution.—Eastern Canada and eastern United States, west to 
Minnesota, south to the Carolinas, Tennessee and lower Mississippi Valley. 
Breeds chiefly in the northern parts of its range, migrating south in winter. 
Reports from observers would indicate that the Migrant Shrike arrives 
in Michigan from the south between the middle of March and the middle 
of April and retires southward again during 
October. Although nowhere abundant it is ~ 
widely distributed throughout the state and —— 
probably occurs regularly in every county. It is —— ies 
a typical roadside bird, and along country roads, #/“'e << 
where clumps of hawthorn (Crategus) abound, it Fig ee 
is sure to be seen at intervals perched on the Bill of Migrant Shrike. 
telephone wire or some tall bush or tree, or winging 
its leisurely, looping flight across the adjoining fields. Its plumage 
always suggests that of the Mockingbird, but its habits and general 
appearance are widely different. 
It nests early, often before the middle of April, building its bulky nest 
usually in the interior of a thick thorn bush, where it can be reached by 
the average small boy only with the utmost difficulty. Being generally 
considered a ‘‘Butcher Bird” and destructive of other birds, it is held to be 
legitimate prey and is often shot on sight and its nest destroyed whenever 
opportunity offers. This may account for the fact that although it rears 
two broods, often with six or seven eggs in each nest, it nevertheless remains 
a somewhat scarce bird. 
As a matter of fact the Migrant Shrike is probably one of our decidedly 
beneficial birds. It feeds very largely—almost entirely—on insects, 
varying its diet occasionally with field mice or meadow-mice, and still 
more rarely with a sparrow, not infrequently an English Sparrow. The 
insects which it devours probably are not all injurious, yet many of them 
belong to the more injurious groups. Its habit of impaling its surplus 
food on the thorns in the vicinity of its nest allows us to judge somewhat 
of the character of this food. Most often we find large beetles, such as 
May-beetles, goldsmith-beetles and stag-beetles, together with large 
grasshoppers, the Carolina locust, and an occasional cicada. Sometimes 
it catches a small snake, a frog or a lizard, but the greater part of its food 
certainly consists of insects. The late Dr. Judd of the U. 8. Department of 
Agriculture, Washington, D. C., found by stomach examinations that about 
24 per cent of the food of the Loggerhead (and its varieties) consists of 
mice and birds, and the remainder of insects, mostly grasshoppers, although 
caterpillars are eaten to some extent (Biol. Survey, Bull. 9, 1898, 15-26). 
