CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 569 



' 622a. WWte-rumped Shrike. 



Lanius ludovicianus exmbitorides (Swains.) Coues. 1872. 

 This is the characteristic species of the whole region along the 

 49th parallel from Pembina to the Rocky Mountains. At Turtle 

 Mountain during the last week in July I faund a family of these 

 birds in an isolated clump of bushes. The young, four in number, 

 had just left the nest, which was discovered in the crotch of a 

 bush five or six feet from the ground. The nest proper rested 

 upon a bulky mass of interlaced twigs; it was composed of some 

 white weed {Anaphalis margaritaced) that grow abundantly in the 

 vicinity, matted together with strips of fibrous bark. {Coues.) 



Common summer resident of half-wooded districts in Manitoba. 

 Breeding freely at Carberry, Sh^ll River and Qu'Appelle. 

 {Tomfison-Seton) First seen at Indian Head, Assa., on May i6th, 

 1892, they were never common; a few breed there, as they were 

 seen up to the end of June; first seen at Medicine Hat, Assa., on 

 May 14th, 1894, later they became common and doubtless bred 

 in the river valley; apparently breeding near Pend d'Oreille on the 

 Milk River, Alta., July loth, 1895; observed a pair on May iSthi 

 1897, at Edmonton, Alta., building a nest in a clump of willows. 

 I unfortunately shot the female ; nest nearly finished, composed 

 of weeds. {Spreadborough.) This is a more southern bird than 

 Lanius borealis and does not seem to advance further north than 

 Lat. 54°. Its habits are precisely similar to the other, and its food, 

 which was grasshoppers, the same. They are numerous on the 

 plains. Mr. Drummond found a nest in a willow bush, in the 

 beginning of 'June, which w.as built of twigs of Artemisia and dried 

 grass and lined with feathers. {Richardson^ 



MUSEUM SPECIMENS. 



Four; two taken at Indian Head, Assa., in May, 1892, and two 

 at Edmonton, Alta., in May, 1897, by Mr. Spreadborough. 



6226. California Shrike- 



Lanius ludovicianus gambeli Ridgw.Z; 1887. 

 One taken in April, 1888, at Chilliwack, Eraser River valley, 

 B.C., 1888. {Brooks.) This specimen is referred here on the 

 authority of Mr. W. Brewster. 



