Bill of moderate length, strong, compressed; upper mandible with the dorsal line a little arched, towards the end decurved, the sides convex, the edges direct, with a large prominence succeeded by a deep notch, the tip decurved and acute; lower mandible with the angle short and wide, the dorsal line convex, the sides convex, the edges inflected, the tip ascending, acute. Nostrils basal, lateral, oval, concealed by the bristly feathers. Head large, broadly ovate; neck short; body robust. Tarsus rather short, compressed, slender, with eight scutella; toes small, the first stout, the lateral nearly equal. Claws rather large, arched, compressed, extremely acute. Plumage soft and blended. Bristles stiff. Wings of ordinary length, first quill very short, fourth longest. Tail long, graduated, or rounded.
236. 1. Lanius borealis, Vieill. Great American Shrike.
Plate CXCII. Male and Female.
Fourth quill longest, third little shorter, second shorter than sixth, first half the length of second; tail long, graduated; bill brownish-black at the end, paler towards the base; upper parts light ash-grey, the ends of the scapulars and the upper tail-coverts grayish-white; a streak of whitish over the eye; loral space and a patch behind the eye brownish-black; first row of smaller wing-coverts, larger coverts, and quills, brownish-black; secondary quills and coverts edged and tipped with whitish; base of primaries white, forming a conspicuous patch, when the wing is extended; tail-feathers brownish-black, outer web of lateral feathers, and more than a third of its inner web from the tip, white; the extremities of all the rest, excepting the middle two, also white, gradually occupying less extent on the inner feathers; lower parts greyish-white, the fore part of the breast tinged with brown, and faintly marked with transverse undulating lines of dark grey, as are the sides. Female similar, but with the head and neck slightly tinged with brown, and the lower parts more banded.
Lanius Excubitor differs in being considerably smaller, and in having the white on the wings and tail more extended, the bases and a great portion of the inner webs of the secondaries, except the inner three, being of that colour, as well as the bases of the primaries, and forming a conspicuous spot when the wing is closed, and the outer tail-feathers being often white in their whole length.
Male, 102/12, 142/12.
Breeds from Pennsylvania northward. During winter, migrates westward to the Mississippi, and as far south as Natchez. Not uncommon.
Great American Shrike or Butcher Bird, Lanius Excubitor, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. i. p. 74.
Lanius septentrionalis, Bonap. Syn. p. 72.
Lanius borealis, Greater Northern Shrike, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer. v. ii. p. 111.
Great American Shrike, Nutt. Man. v. i. p. 258.
Great American Shrike, Lanius Excubitor, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. ii. p. 534; v. v. p. 434.
237. 2. Lanius Ludovicianus, Linn. Loggerheaded Shrike.
Plate LVII. Male and Female.