Lanius ludovicianus ini grans . 
Bethel, Maine. 
1903 
June 8 
( s ) Not long after the appearance of the male Shrike this 
morning I saw the female sitting on a fence rail well out in the 
open fields. For nearly an hour she remained within twenty yards 
of the same spot although she frequently took short flights -usually 
to the ground and back again to the same or a neighboring perch on 
the fence rails or posts. Although I watched her closely I did 
not once see her catch anything. Her manner of flying down to 
the ground and back reminded me strongly of that of a Bluebird. 
Sometimes she would remain on the ground for a minute or more hop¬ 
ping or fluttering from clod to clod on some recently ploughed 
land, evidently looking for insects but ordinarily she flew back 
to her perch almost immediately after alighting on the ground. 
While perched she remained for the most part as immovable as a 
Hawk and in a similarly erect, tense attitude. 
Her mate was also in sight most of the time. His favorite 
perches were on the telegraph poles and their connecting wires a- 
long the roadside. While sitting on these his attitudes were as 
light and graceful as those of the Northern Shrike and he balanced 
himself in the same way, shifting his position frequently and of¬ 
ten raising and lowering his long tail as well as occasionally 
half spreading it. It was a beautiful sight to see him start from 
his elevated perch and after a few rapid vibrations of his short, 
white-spotted wings, glide on a long, gentle incline half across a 
broad field before coming to the ground. Sometimes he would move 
