LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE. 
87 
being much darker on the upper parts ; and Jn having 
the frontlet black. It also inhabits the warmer parts of 
the United States ; while the great American shrike is 
chiefly confined to the northern regions, and seldom 
extends to the south of Virginia. 
This species inhabits the rice plantations of Carolina 
and Georgia, where it is protected for its usefulness in 
destroying mice. It sits, for hours together, on the 
fence, beside the stacks of rice, watching like a cat ; 
and as soon as it perceives a mouse, darts on it like a 
hawk. It also feeds on crickets and grasshoppers. Its 
note, in March, resembles the clear creaking of a sign- 
board in windy weather. It builds its nest, as I was 
informed, generally in a detached bush, much like that 
of the mocking bird ; but, as the spring was not then 
sufficiently advanced, I had no opportunity of seeing 
its eggs. It is generally known by the name of the 
loggerhead. 
This species is nine inches long, and thirteen in 
extent ; the colour above is cinereous, or dark ash ; 
scapulars and line over the eye, whitish ; wings, black, 
with a small spot of white at the base of the primaries, 
and tipt with white ; a stripe of black passes along the 
front, through each eye, half w r ay down the side of the 
neck ; eye, dark hazel, sunk below the eyebrow r ; tail, 
cuneiform, the four middle feathers wholly black ; the 
four exterior ones, on each side, tipt more and more 
with white to the outer one, which is nearly all white ; 
whole lower parts, white ; and in some specimens, both 
of males and females, marked with transverse lines of 
very pale brown ; bill and legs, black. 
The female is considerably darker both above and 
below, but the black does not reach so high on the 
front ; it is also rather less in size. 
