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THE LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE. 



-HLanius ludovicianus, Linn. 

 PLATE CCXXX VII.— Male and Female. 



This species may with great propriety be called an inhabitant of the 

 "Low Countries," as it is seldom or never met with even in the vicinity of 

 the mountains intersecting the districts in which it usually resides. It is 

 also confined to that portion of our country usually known under the name 

 of the Southern States, seldom reaching farther eastward than North 

 Carolina, or farther inland than the State of Mississippi, in which latter, as 

 well as in Louisiana, it appears only during the winter months. Its chief 

 residence may, therefore, be looked upon as the Floridas, Georgia, and the 

 Carolinas. In these States, it is seen along the fences and bushes about the 

 rice plantations, at all seasons, and is of some service to the planter, as it 

 destroys the field-mice in great numbers, as well as many of the larger kinds 

 of grubs and insects, upon which it pounces in the manner of a Hawk. 



The Loggerhead has no song, but utters a shrill clear creaking prolonged 

 note, resembling the grating of a rusty hinge slowly moved to and fro. This 

 sound is heard only during the spring season, and whilst the female is sitting. 

 About the beginning of March these birds begin to pair. They exhibit at 

 this time few of those marks of the tender affection which birds usually shew. 

 The male courts the female without much regard, and she, in return, appears 

 to receive his haughty attentions with merely just as much condescension as 

 enables her to become the mother of a family, whose feelings are destined to 

 be of the same cold nature. 



The nest is fixed in a low bush, generally near the centre of a dwarf haw- 

 thorn, and is so little concealed as to be easily discovered. It is coarsely 

 constructed of dry crooked twigs, and is lined with fibrous roots and slender 

 grasses. The eggs, which are of a greenish-white, are from three to five. 

 Incubation is performed by the male as well as by the female, but each 

 searches for its own food during the intervals of sitting. 



The young are at first fed on crickets, grasshoppers, and other insects; but 

 as they become larger and stronger, they receive portions of mice, which 

 form the principal food of the grown birds at all seasons. The Loggerheads 

 rear only one brood in the season. 



Whilst this species is on wing, its motions are very rapid and direct, its 



