The Northwestern Shrike 
interest which we warmly, but vainly, endeavored to reciprocate. (It 
was absurd to think that this flibbertigibbet should be wedded; but if not, 
wherefore this hurried recitative they call his “song”?) Anyhow, if his 
observations were directed at us, they showed a certain lack of discrimi¬ 
nation, for his stock remark was, I slid, think that'd be worth a great deal. 
Capital! when a White-throated Swift’s egg was being held up for Wil¬ 
liam’s inspection! But it was to laugh that the same remark was made 
when the cook was ruefully inspecting a mess of sour beans. Out of 
the mouth of babes and sucklings! 
The bird’s song, when it is not innocently (or cunningly?) mis¬ 
leading, will take you straight to the nest, the little hempen basket, 
swung this time from the tip of a descending branch, at a height of not 
over two or three feet from the ground. Nests twelve feet off the earth 
are of record, but those only one foot up are less rare. Quite frequently, 
also, nests are placed like those of Flycatchers, over a running stream. 
There is, perhaps, a general disposition to place the basket, however 
humble, in the open, a disposition that, according to Dr. Grinnell, results 
in a considerable loss when the nests line cow-paths, as they do in the 
Colorado River bottom. On the other hand, I once saw a nest on the 
upper Salinas River in shade so dense that one could not see to read on a 
bright afternoon. In this case, we may suppose that the birds had been 
overtaken by an unforeseen rankness of the surrounding growth. 
No. 119 
Northwestern Shrike 
A. O. U. No. 621, part. Lanius borealis invictus Grinnell. 
Synonyms.— Great Northern Shrike. Butcher-bird. 
Description. — Adult: Upperparts clear bluish gray, lightest—almost white— 
on upper tail-coverts and tips of lowermost scapulars; extreme forehead and line over 
eye (increasing behind) whitish; wings and tail black, the former with conspicuous 
white spot at base of primaries, and with narrow white tips (increasing inwardly) on the 
inner primaries and the secondaries, the latter with large white terminal blotches on 
outer feathers, decreasing in size inwardly; a black band through eye, including auricu- 
lars; below grayish white, the feathers of the breast and sides narrowly tipped with 
dusky, producing a uniform fine vermiculation which is always present. Bill blackish, 
lightening at base of lower mandible; feet black. Young birds are more heavily ver- 
miculated below, and are heavily washed all over with dull rusty brown. The plumage 
of adult is sometimes overcast above with a faint olivaceous tinge. Length 235-273.1 
(9.25-10.75); wing 114.3 (4.50); tail no (4-33); bill 17.7 (.70); tarsus 27.3 (1.07). 
Recognition Marks. —Robin size; gray and black coloring; sharply hooked bill; 
breast vermiculated with dusky as distinguished from next species. 
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