135 
THE LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE. 
Lanius ludovicianus, Linn . 
PLATE CCXXXVXI. — Male and Female. 
This species may with great propriety be called an inhabitant of the 
“ Low Countries,” as it is seldom or never met with even in the vicinity of 
the mountains intersecting the districts in which it usually resides. It is 
also confined to that portion of our country usually known under the name 
of the Southern States, seldom reaching farther eastward than North 
Carolina, or farther inland than the State of Mississippi, in which latter, as 
well as in Louisiana, it appears only during the winter months. Its chief 
residence may, therefore, be looked upon as the Floridas, Georgia, and the 
Carolinas. In these States, it is seen along the fences and bushes about the 
rice plantations, at all seasons, and is of some service to the planter, as it 
destroys the field-mice in great numbers, as well as many of the larger kinds 
of grubs and insects, upon which it pounces in the manner of a Hawk. 
The Loggerhead has no song, but utters a shrill clear creaking prolonged 
note, resembling the grating of a rusty hinge slowly moved to and fro. 
This sound is heard only during the spring season, and whilst the female is 
sitting. About the beginning of March these birds begin to pair. They 
exhibit at this time few of those marks of the tender affection which birds 
usually shew. The male eourts the female without much regard, and she, 
in return, appears to receive his haughty attentions with merely just as 
much condescension as enables her to become the mother of a family, 
whose feelings are destined to be of the same cold nature. 
The nest is fixed in a low bush, generally near the centre of a dwarf haw- 
thorn, and is so little concealed as to be easily discovered. It is coarsely 
constructed of dry crooked twigs, and is lined with fibrous roots and slen- 
der grasses. The eggs, which are of a greenish-white, are from three to 
five. Incubation is performed by the male as well as by the female, but 
each searches for its own food during the intervals of sitting. 
The young are at first fed on crickets, grasshoppers, and other insects ; 
but as they become larger and stronger, they receive portions of mice, 
which form the principal food of the grown birds at all seasons. The 
Loggerheads rear only one brood in the season. 
Whilst this species is on wing, its motions are very rapid and direct, its 
