OF VIRGINIA 267 
FAMILY LANIIDA:.—SHRIKES. 
GENUs LANIUS. 
[622-E]. Lanius ludovicianus migrans (W. Palmer) 
Migrant Shrike. 
[ Butcher Bird]. 
Ranex.—Eastern North America. Breeds chiefly in 
Transition and Upper Austral zones from northern Minne- 
sota, Wisconsin, Michigan, southern Ontario, southern 
Quebec, Maine, and New Brunswick south to eastern 
Kansas, southern Illinois, Kentucky, western North 
Carolina, and interior of Virginia (locally in the east) ; 
winters from the Middle States and southern New 
England to Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. 
This is rather a rare species with us, though a few are 
found breeding in the northern part of our area, both on 
the Cape Charles Peninsula, and the mainland west of 
the Chesapeake Bay. They are known as the Butcher 
Bird from their manner of catching small sparrows and 
juncos and impaling them on the spikes of a barbed wire 
fencing, osage orange and thorn trees. While they do 
take many small birds, they also destroy many small mice, 
shrews, grasshoppers, frogs and insects, which more than 
offsets the harm done. In killing small birds they display 
much skill and courage, often capturing a bird almost 
as large as themselves, and which they find difficulty in 
flying with to some near-by place of execution. When 
once fastened, though, they make short work of their 
victim with their powerful hooked beak. The nest is a 
