SOUTHERN SHRIKE; LOGGERHEAD.
Lanius ludovicianus, Linn. Syst. Nat. 1766, 134 (based on Lanius ludovicianus, Brisson, II, 162, tab. xv, fig. 2).—Aud. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 300, pl. xxxvii.—Ib. Birds Am. IV, pl. ccxxxvii.—Cassin, Pr. A. N. Sc. 1857, 213. Collyrio ludovicianus, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 325. Collurio ludov. Baird, Rev. Am. B. 1864, 443. Lanius ardosiaceus, Vieillot, Ois. Am. Sept. I, 1807, 81, pl. li. Lanius carolinensis, Wils. Am. Orn. III, 1811, 57, pl. xxii, fig. 5.
Hab. South Atlantic (and Gulf?) States.
The young bird is quite different from the adult, differing as does that of excubitoroides, but the colors are all darker than in the corresponding age of that species.
Habits. This species, if we regard it as distinct from the excubitoroides, has apparently a very restricted distribution, being confined to the South Atlantic and Gulf States. I am not aware that it has been found farther north than North Carolina. It is not common, according to Audubon, either in Louisiana or Mississippi, and probably only occurs there in the winter. I have had its eggs from South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Dresser speaks of this Shrike as common in Texas in summer, and Dr. Woodhouse states that he found it very abundant in Texas and the Indian Territory. These observations may probably apply to the kindred race, excubitoroides, and not to this form.
It is said to be exclusively a bird of the lowlands, and never to be met with in the mountainous parts, even of its restricted habitat.
Dr. Coues found this species very common in the neighborhood of Columbia, S. C., frequenting the wooded streets and waste fields of that city. On one occasion he observed a Loggerhead busily foraging for insects in the grounds of the Capitol. From the top of a tall bush it would occasionally sally out, capture a large grasshopper, and carry it to a tree near by, full of sharp twigs. It would then proceed to impale the insect on one of these points, remain awhile watching the result of its performance, and then resume its post on the bush, watching for more grasshoppers, some of which, one by one, it caught and impaled in like manner, others it ate on the spot.
This curious habit of impaling insects, more or less common to the entire family of Shrikes, seems to admit of no satisfactory explanation. In this case the bird thus secured them when apparently hungry, eating some and impaling others. Yet, so far as I know, it never makes any use of those it thus impales.
Mr. Audubon states that in South Carolina it is quite common along the fences and hedges about the rice plantations at all seasons, and that it renders good service to the planters in the destruction of field-mice, as well as of many of the larger insects. He speaks of its song as consisting only of shrill, clear, creaking, prolonged notes, resembling the grating of a rusty hinge. His account differs, in many respects, from the more minute and exact descriptions of Rev. Dr. Bachman. In pursuing its prey, he states that it invariably strikes it with its bill before seizing it with its claws.
In reference to its song, Dr. Bachman states that it has other notes besides the grating sound mentioned by Audubon. During the breeding-season, and nearly all the summer, the male bird posts itself at the top of some tree and makes an effort at a song, which he compares to the first attempts of a young Brown Thrush. This is a labored effort, and at times the notes are not unpleasing, but very irregular.