Plate IX. 
COLLURIO LUDOVI CIAN US— Loggerhead Shrike. 
The Loggerhead Shrike is quite a common resident in Ohio, particularly in the central and southern 
portions of the state, and it is singular that it has so few acquaintances, as its habits are perhaps more 
interesting than those of any of our other birds. Twenty years ago it was scarce, if indeed a resident 
of the state at all ; now it is to be found both winter and summer, though more abundant in the latter 
season. The birds which remain during the winter begin the construction of their nests exceedingly 
early — the 15 th of April will find many of them setting upon a full complement of eggs — but the usual 
time for nesting is in June; a second brood is raised some weeks later. 
LOCALITY: 
The early nests are found in hedges, and scrubby little trees in cultivated fields ; later, when the 
leaves are fully set, old orchard-trees standing in wheat-fields, cornfields, or meadows, and thorn-trees 
growing along canals, small streams, or roads, are their favorite sites. The trees selected are generally 
at a distance from any dwelling — occasionally nests are built within twenty or thirty yards of a house, 
or even closer — woods are rarely if ever frequented. 
POSITION : 
The nest, when placed in a hedge, is supported by a number of small branches, and is within three 
or four feet of the ground; when built in an apple-tree or pear-tree, it is usually in a perpendicular 
fork near the top; when in a thorn-tree, it is either in the main fork, or on one of the lower limbs in 
a thicket of thorns and little branches, and on this account is very difficult to procure without tearing 
to pieces. 
MATEKIALS: 
The materials ef •construction are quite constant in variety, though the relative proportions are vari- 
able. The foundations of twelve nests before me contain coarse weed-stems, blue-grass, timothy-heads, weed- 
fibres in long and short strips, chicken-feathers, thorns, and pieces of paper. The superstructures contain 
fine stems and fibres of weeds, rootlets, grasses, feathers, paper, wool, and silk from the milk-weed ( Asclepias 
cornuti). The linings contain flaxen fibres, chicken-feathers, wool, silk of A. cornuii, and horse-hairs. An 
average nest is composed as follows : foundation, coarse weed-stems, a few long fibres, and a little blue- 
grass ; the superstructure, finer weed-stalks, fibres, rodtlets, grasses, and feathers, abounding in the order 
mentioned ; the lining, long fibres, feathers, and a few horse-hairs. In all nests of this species the lining 
is quite thick, and the inside of the rim is compact and well formed, and often has long feathers from 
the back or breast of the chicken so adroitly woven into it as to completely conceal the eggs from view. 
The outside dimensions are variable, the eai'ly structures which are placed in hedges and in shrubs, are 
not so bulky and roughly made as the later ones built in more elevated positions in larger trees. The 
