Bethel, Maine.
1903
June 8
(No 4)
to the young Shrike? Why had not the parents fed it
at all previous to this during the hour I had been watching
them (I should certainly have seen them feed it had they done so)?
and where were the remainder of the brood? were questions
that I asked myself in vain. I searched the whole
neighborhood carefully but without discovering any more
of the young. The one I had seen fed was conspicuous
enough (after my attention had been called to him)
and one of the prettiest and oddest little birds I have
ever seen. He could fly only a few yards at a time but
he hopped along the fence rail ahead of me almost as fast
as I could walk using his wings only when I was
on the point of touching him with my hand.
His wings & tails were nearly black but the secondaries &
greater wing coverts were broadly tipped with rusty brown.
His under parts were exquisitely (?) with wavy
grayish lines on a lighter gray ground. His eyes were
very large & expressive, his bill short & blunt.
Most crucial of all was his little stub tail scarce two 
inches long. He carried it nearly erect & kept puffing it
up & down and flitting it from side to side in the
most animated way. All his motions were exceedingly
quick & animated when I was pursuing him but
after I had left him he sat erect & still with
his plumage fluffed out like a little owl.
  On my way back I climbed to the nest & examined it
closely. It was placed directly against the main stem of the
elm about ten feet above the ground & was of the usual
bulky character. From below it looked not unlike the
nest of a Thrasher for it contained many large twigs in
the lower portions but the walls were thickly & evenly
Migrant Shrike