THE GREAT AMERICAN SHRIKE. 131 



About the 20th of April, the male and his mate are seen engaged in building 

 their nest, in the covered and secluded parts of the forests. I found several 

 of their nests placed on bushes not above ten feet from the ground, without 

 any appearance of choice as to the tree, but generally towards the top, and 

 placed in a fork. The nest is as large as that of the Robin, and is composed 

 externally of coarse grasses, leaves and moss, internally of fibrous roots, over 

 which is a bed of the feathers of the Wild Turkey and Pheasant ( Tetrao 

 umbellus). The eggs are four or five, of a dull cinereous tint, thickly 

 spotted and streaked with light brown towards the larger end. The period 

 of incubation is fifteen days. 



The young are at first of a dark bluish colour, but when they become 

 covered with feathers, they assume a dull rufous tint above, and are trans- 

 versely barred with zig-zag lines from the throat to the abdomen. In this 

 State they remain until late in autumn, and might seem to one not acquainted 

 with them to be of a different species. They remain with their parents all 

 that time, and not unfrequently even during winter. Caterpillars, spiders 

 and insects of various kinds form their first food, together with small fruits; 

 but as they grow up, their parents bring them the flesh of small birds, on 

 which they feed greedily even before they leave the nest. 



This valiant little warrior possesses the faculty of imitating the notes of 

 other birds, especially such as are indicative of pain. Thus it will often 

 mimic the cries of Sparrows and other small birds, so as to make you believe 

 you hear them screaming in the claws of a Hawk; and I strongly suspect this 

 is done for the purpose of inducing others to come out from their coverts to 

 the rescue of their suffering brethren. On several occasions I have seen it in 

 the act of screaming in this manner, when it would suddenly dart from its 

 perch into a thicket, from which there would immediately issue the real cries 

 of a bird on which it had seized. On the banks of the Mississippi, I saw 

 one which for several days in succession had regularly taken its stand on the 

 top of a tall tree, where it from time to time imitated the cries of the Swamp 

 and Song Sparrows, and shortly afterwards would pitch downwards like a 

 Hawk, with its wings close to its body, seldom failing in obtaining the 

 object of its pursuit, which it would sometimes follow even through the 

 briars and brambles among which it had sought refuge. When unable to 

 secure the prey, it would reascend to its perch, and emit loud and discordant 

 notes of anger. Whenever I could see it strike its victim, it appeared to 

 alight on its back, and instantly strike its head, which on such occasions I 

 have several times found torn open. If not disturbed, the Shrike would 

 then tear up the body, and swallow in large pieces, not well cleared of the 

 feathers, every part excepting the wings. It now and then pursues birds 

 that are on the wing to a considerable distance. Thus, I saw one follow a 



