The Naturalists’ Cojupanion. 
123 
bonanza to collectors during the part of 
the year which extends from the break¬ 
ing up of winter until the snow falls 
again. Rare insects were found this 
year as well as great numbers of the more 
common species. Minerals are well 
represented in this—Daviess—and the 
adjacent counties; many varieties of 
plants are found ; the streams and damp 
forests supply us with hshes, reptiles 
and amphibian ; mollusks are found in 
quantities to satisfy any collector’s wants. 
North-west of the city are several Indian 
mounds. All around the county are of¬ 
ten discovered hatchets, axes and arrow¬ 
heads. Part of the remains of a masta- 
don were found last summer, and many 
fossils, rare as well as well as common, 
abound here. , Naturalist, 
Washington, Ind, 
THE WHITE-BUMPED 
SHRIKE. 
(lANIUS LUDOVICIANUS EXCUBITORIUES). 
This little tyrant, rdthough no where 
abundant, is found in almost every sec¬ 
tion of our country, from Carolina to 
Oregon. What boy or girl who takes 
any notice of nature does not know our 
“ P>utcher-bird” at sight ? This species, 
like all the other representatives of the 
LANiDAi, is migratory, and a.rrives here 
about the first of April, or in very early 
seasons, some ten days or so sooner. 
Always arriving in pairs we cannot ob¬ 
serve them during the mateing season. 
From five to ten days after their arrival 
the first work is begun on the nest. 
'I'he first nest is built very slowly, tak¬ 
ing over two weeks for completion. It 
is composed of sticks, grass, rags, strings, 
etc., and is always carefully and thickly 
lined with white feathers. Considering 
the earliness of the season of incubation, 
the nest is one of the most comfortable 
if not the neatest ever made by birds 
for their young. The favorite position 
for their abode is in a tall hedge or in 
an isolated tree in a broad meadow. 
Plum trees are very often selected, as 
they alford them the means of “stringing 
up” their victims. The principal food 
of this bird is various kinds of large in¬ 
sects, which it ofter draws up in a line 
on the barbs of a wire fence, to await 
its wants at a future day ; and then, for 
recreation, it will kill a small bird with 
which to feed its waiting brood. Often 
has the writer seen a small bird, as the 
x 4 merican Goldfinch or the Chipping 
Sparrow, with a plum thorn through 
its neck awaiting the “Butcher’s” pleas¬ 
ure. Even birds as large as the Bank 
Swallow and Catbird fall before the 
tyrant’s conquering beak. It is very 
easy to find the nest of this bird. In 
early spring before the leaves are fairly 
out it is easily seen at twenty rods dis¬ 
tance ; and a bird of this species, if fol¬ 
lowed about for some time, is sure to go 
directly to its nest. It is seldom found 
more than a quarter of a mile from the 
nest, and then only when in search of 
food. If one set of eggs be taken an¬ 
other set is deposited, sometimes in the 
same nest but more often in a new one, 
constructed within a few rods of the first. 
'Phe second nest takes less than half the 
amount of time and material required 
for the first, and is frequently complet¬ 
ed in two or three days. The first set 
is six, occasionally five, but the second 
is almost always five, and when that is 
taken or destroyed a third' will gener¬ 
ally be deposited, containing four or 
five eggs. I have known the same pair 
of birds to build four nests in one season. 
