Cambridge, Mass
1910.
Jan'y 30 [January 30, 1910]
  A Northern Strike seen in the Garden this
morning was certainly not the one noted on Jan 1st
for it was a fully mature and very handsome bird
with pure blue-gray upper parts, nearly white brown
parts and jet black wings and tail. When I first
noticed it (about 8.30) it was flitting through the
lilacs with a dead House Sparrow held firmly in its
bill, evidently looking for a place to suspend its prey.
Presently it found one in the fork of a branch
which, however, proved too spreading to answer the
purpose although the Shrike did not seem to realize
the fact until it had worked for fully five minutes
trying to draw the head of the Sparrow sufficiently
far back to make it hold in the angle made by the
abruptly diverging twigs. Another similarly wide
spreading fork a few yards off was next tried
Northern
Shrike
suspends
House Sparrow in
fork and
then eats
a portion
of it.