Sbrifte«=1Flote0 



Last winter I renewed my pursuit of 

 the shrike under favorable conditions. 

 Both varieties of the smaller species, the 

 loggerhead proper and excubitorides, were 

 seen, the latter appearing to be more 

 numerous than the mocking-birds, which 

 they very strikingly resemble in a general 

 way. With a good glass the markings 

 distinguishing the two {ludovicianus and 

 excubitorides) may be made out quite sat- 

 isfactorily, especially the black and white 

 about the eyes and on the tail-base. One 

 or two notes of observation seem to me 

 worth preserving, as they go toward dis- 

 closing a certain resemblance between the 

 character of the shrike and that of the 

 sparrow-hawk. 



On a small tract of wet land, in which 

 grew here and there a stunted live-oak 

 tree, I saw a shrike following a small flock 

 of sparrows. It was manoeuvering to take 

 one of the plump little fellows unawares ; 

 but an observer not well acquainted with 

 its nature and the peculiarity of its dis- 

 position would scarcely have suspected 

 what it was trying to do. The trees were 

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