Vol. XII 
1S94 J 
General Notes. 
3 2 9 
Note on the Habits of the Northern Shrike ( Lanins borealis ). — On 
the 9th of March, 1892, at Concord, Mass., I saw a Northern Shrike 
(Lanins borealis ) capture, kill and dispose of a meadow mouse. The 
bird’s behavior and methods were so interesting and, in some respects, 
peculiar that I submit the following account of the episode in nearly the 
words in which I find it described In my notes written at the time. 
As I was watching a Shrike it flew from the topmost spray of a small 
maple into some alders and alighted on a horizontal stem about a foot 
above the level of the surrounding snow; but directly beneath, as I after- 
wards found, the snow had thawed quite down to the ground leaving a 
trench about two feet deep by three or four inches wide into which the 
Shrike, after peering intently for a moment, suddenly dropped, with 
fluttering wings and wide spread tail. Within a second or less it re- 
appeared dragging out a field mouse ( Arvicola riparius ) of the largest 
size. The moment it got the mouse fairly out on the hard surface of the 
snow it dropped it, apparently to get a fresh hold (as nearly as I could 
make out it had held it, up to this time, by about the middle of the back). 
The mouse, instead of attempting to regain its runway, as I expected it 
would do, instantly turned on its assailant and with surprising fierceness 
and agility sprang directly at its head many times in succession, literally 
driving it backward several feet, although the Shrike faced its attacks 
with admirable steadiness and coolness, and by a succession of vigor- 
ous and well aimed blows prevented the mouse from closing in. At 
length the mouse seemed to lose heart and turning, tried to escape. This 
sealed its fate, for at the end of the second leap, it was overtaken by the 
Shrike who caught it by the back of the neck and began to worry it 
precisely as a terrier worries a rat, shaking it viciously from side to side, 
at the same time dragging it about over the snow which, as I could 
plainly see through my glass (I was standing within ten yards of the 
spot), was now freely stained with blood. I could also see the Shrike’s 
mandibles work with a vigorous, biting motion, especially when it 
stopped the shaking to rest for a moment. When it finally let go its 
hold the mouse was evidently dead. The Shrike now looked up and 
seeing me jumped on the mouse with both feet and flew off bearing it in 
its claws. Its flight was slow and labored. In fact it did not succeed in 
rising more than two feet above the snow and went less than two 
hundred feet before relighting. As I again approached it was tearing 
at the mouse but it stopped as soon as it saw me and flew some fifty 
yards further, dropping, this time, into a thicket of alders where it laid 
the mouse on the snow and resumed its meal. Shortly afterwards it 
raised the mouse to a branch a few inches above the snow and doubling 
it over this so that the head hung down on one side, the tail on the other, 
left it for awhile and alighting above it sat for several minutes nearly 
motionless. Then it returned to the mouse and taking it by the head 
dragged it up along the branch until it came to an acute-angled fork a 
foot or more above the snow. Through this fork it dropped the body; 
42 
Winter Birds in South-eastern Mass. 
Harry <J. White 
12. The Great Northern Shrike. This bird 
is locally distributed throughout the three 
southeastern counties of the State during 
the winter. It was apparently wanting at 
Taunton, and was only observed on one 
occasion in the latter part of November, at 
Wood’s Holl. One bird was taken at Naushon 
in January and it appears to be of common 
occurrence at Highland Tight, where Mr. 
Small saw it eight times in December, twice in 
January and the same number of times in the 
following month. 
0.& O. Vol. 17 , June, 1892 p.85 
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