s>. 
FOOD OF THE LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE. 
yi'IOUtt&C' . 
A few days ago I noticed a Loggerhead 
pounce down in a little patch of grass and 
shrubs and as he fluttered up again a full-grown 
Cotton Rat ran out and fell dead almost at my 
feet. An examination of the specimen showed 
that the jugular vein had been severed. 
Though I knew this little bird to be extremely 
bold and rapacious I have never known it to 
attack an adult animal of this size and think 
it probable that he mistook it for some smaller 
animal when he flew down to attack it and 
that his success in killing it so easily was 
more an accident than any actual “trick of 
fence.” 
Be that as it may, the incident set me to 
thinking, and as there seems to he some 
interest at present concerning the food hab- 
its of its cousin, the northern Butcher bird, 
I have looked up my old record of this 
species and give it to the readers of the 
O. & O. 
In 1886 I dissected twelve specimens of the 
Loggerhead Shrike and found the food to be 
as follows : — - 
4 Four contained portions of animals plainly 
shown by the hair. 
2 Two contained portions of birds. Species 
undetermined. 
1 One contained portions of a Savannah Spar- 
row. 
1 One contained beetles. 
1 One contained a grasshopper. 
1 One contained head and thorax of a locust. 
1 One contained insects. 
1 One contained hones. No hair or feathers. 
12 " 
Thus it appears that eight out of the twelve 
had been feeding on birds or animals. The 
only comment I will make is to say that 1 am 
surprised to find such a large percentage of 
O & O. XIV. May. 1889 p, 72 
insects. 
Lanius ludovicianus. Loggerhead Shrike. 
In March, 1889, two instances of the Loggerhead Shrike kilt- 
ing small birds came under my notice. In both cases the victim 
was a Grasshopper Sparrow, although birds of this species weie 
few and scattered at that time, while the Savanna Sparrow was 
very abundant. The Sparrows were impaled by the neck upon 
orange thorns, and there were no wounds on any other part of the 
body. The ‘Florida Dispatch’ cites an instance of the Logger- 
head killing a little chicken. This bird impales its prey not only 
when it wishes to preserve it, but also when it intends to devour it 
immediately, and the long slivers on fresh pine stumps are com- 
monly selected for the purpose wherever they can be found. 
The bird flies to a stump with its victim, usually a large beetle, 
and forces it upon a sliver, just behind the thorax ; thus having a 
convenient place to stand, and a convenient fork to hold the mor- 
sel, while he breaks open the hard shell and eats the softer parts. 
The same stump is resorted to many times by the same bird, so 
that it is common to find quantities of the legs and wing-cases of 
beetles about these curious dining .tables. 
OfaB®® D. Mortimor# 
ATE, VII, Oct, 
1890, . 348 
