A grim, gray bird that comes out of the far North in the fall. His mission is death to birds and mice and he makes no attempt to disguise it but boldly advertises his presence by perching where he may be seen as well as see. Mice he can plunge on, but Sparrows, Siskins or Redpolls he may have to pursue on the wing, following every twist and turn until he reaches striking distance. Slowly he bears his victim, in his feet, to some tree there to hang it on thorn or in crotch from which it may be devoured at leisure. An executioner by birth, the Shrike or "Butcher Bird" evidently pursues his calling with no regrets and when spring time approaches adds his voice to the chorus of bird song.
LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE
Lanius ludovicianus ludovicianus. [Case 4], Fig. 55
A gray bird with black wings and tail marked with white which shows in flight; smaller than the Northern Shrike with a black forehead and unmarked breast. L. 9.
Range. Florida north to North Carolina, west to Louisiana.
The Loggerhead has the general habits of his larger northern cousin the "Butcher-bird," but he feeds, as a rule, on smaller game. Grasshoppers and lizards form the larger part of his fare and the barbed wire fences not infrequently are his shambles. A flight is ended by an upward swing to the chosen perch which may be a tree-top, a telegraph wire, or lightning-rod tip. From such a lookout he keeps a sharp watch for his prey, which he detects at surprisingly long distances; meanwhile uttering the gurgles, squeaks and pipes which constitute his song. The nest is built in hedges or low trees in early March. The 3-5 eggs are dull white thickly marked with brown and lavender.
The Migrant Shrike (Lanius ludovicianus migrans) is a northern race of the Loggerhead from which it differs only in being somewhat paler above and grayer below. It is a Summer Resident from Kansas and western North Carolina to Minnesota and Maine and winters from the Middle States southward.
Generally speaking, it may be said that any Shrike found north of Maryland in the winter is a Northern Shrike; that any Shrike found north of Virginia in the summer is a Migrant Shrike, and that any Shrike found south of that state in the summer is a Loggerhead.
VIREOS. FAMILY VIREONIDÆ
BLACK-WHISKERED VIREO
Vireosylva calidris barbatula