Lanius excubitor, Linn.
PLATE CXCII. Male, Female, and Young.

Although this species spends the greater part of the year in our most Eastern States, and in countries still farther north, many individuals remain in the mountainous districts of the Middle States, and breed there. In severe winters, it migrates as far south as the neighbourhood of the city of Natchez, on the Mississippi, where I have shot several and seen many more. In Kentucky it is not a rare bird at that season, but along the coasts of our southern States I have never met with it, nor have I heard of its having been seen there.

In spring and summer it retires from the low lands of the Middle States, to the mountainous districts, where it generally remains until autumn. About the 20th of April, the male and his mate are seen engaged in building their nest, in the covered and secluded parts of the forests. I found several of their nests placed on bushes not above ten feet from the ground, without any appearance of choice as to the tree, but generally towards the top, and placed in a fork. The nest is as large as that of the Robin, and is composed externally of coarse grasses, leaves and moss, internally of fibrous roots, over which is a bed of the feathers of the Wild Turkey and Pheasant (Tetrao umbellus). The eggs are four or five, of a dull cinereous tint, thickly spotted and streaked with light brown towards the larger end. The period of incubation is fifteen days.

The young are at first of a dark bluish colour, but when they become covered with feathers, they assume a dull rufous tint above, and are transversely barred with zig-zag lines from the throat to the abdomen. In this State they remain until late in autumn, and might seem to one not acquainted with them to be of a different species. They remain with their parents all that time, and not unfrequently even during winter. Caterpillars, spiders and insects of various kinds form their first food, together with small fruits; but as they grow up, their parents bring them the flesh of small birds, on which they feed greedily even before they leave the nest.

This valiant little warrior possesses the faculty of imitating the notes of other birds, especially such as are indicative of pain. Thus it will often mimic the cries of Sparrows and other small birds, so as to make you believe you hear them screaming in the claws of a Hawk; and I strongly suspect this is done for the purpose of inducing others to come out from their coverts to the rescue of their suffering brethren. On several occasions I have seen it in the act of screaming in this manner, when it would suddenly dart from its perch into a thicket, from which there would immediately issue the real cries of a bird on which it had seized. On the banks of the Mississippi, I saw one which for several days in succession had regularly taken its stand on the top of a tall tree, where it from time to time imitated the cries of the Swamp and Song Sparrows, and shortly afterwards would pitch downwards like a Hawk, with is wings close to its body, seldom failing in obtaining the object of its pursuit, which it would sometimes follow even through the briars and brambles among which it had sought refuge. When unable to secure the prey, it would reascend to its perch, and emit loud and discordant notes of anger. Whenever I could see it strike its victim, it appeared to alight on its back, and instantly strike its head, which on such occasions I have several times found torn open. If not disturbed, the Shrike would then tear up the body, and swallow in large pieces, not well cleared of the feathers, every part excepting the wings. It now and then pursues birds that are on the wing to a considerable distance. Thus, I saw one follow a Turtle Dove, which, on being nearly caught, pitched on the ground, where its skull was bruised in a moment; but the next instant both birds were in my possession.

The courage, activity, and perseverance of this species, are quite surprising. In winter, when insects are scarce, and small birds rare in the Eastern States, I have known it to enter the cities and attack birds in cages. During my stay at Boston, several of them were brought to me, that had been caught in the apartments in which cages containing canaries were kept, and in every instance after the little favourite had been massacred. Near the same city I observed an individual poised on wing, in the manner of our Sparrow Hawk, for several minutes at a time, over the withered grass and sedges of salt water meadows, when it suddenly pounced on some small bird concealed there.

Although its feet are small and apparently weak, its claws are sharp, and it is capable of inflicting a pretty severe wound on the finger or hand. It bites with great pertinacity, and will seldom let go its hold unless its throat is squeezed.

Its flight is strong, swift, and sustained: it moves through the air in long undulations which have each an extent of twenty or thirty yards, but it seldom rises very high, unless for the purpose of obtaining a good point of observation, and in its usual flight merely passes over the tops of the low bushes rapidly and in silence, in starts of from fifty to a hundred yards. I never saw one walk or move on the ground.

They are extremely fond of crickets and grasshoppers, as well as other kinds of insects, and they feed on the flesh of birds whenever they can procure it. The individuals which I have kept in cages, appeared well pleased with pieces of fresh beef, but they generally remained dull and sullen until they died. As it was only during winter that I had them in confinement, when no coleopterous insects could be procured, I had no opportunity of observing if, like Hawks, they have the power of throwing up hard particles of the food which they swallow, although I should suppose this to be the case. Their propensity to impale insects and small birds on the sharp points of twigs and on thorns, which they so frequently do at all seasons of the year, is quite a mystery to me, as I cannot conceive what its object may be.

I have represented four of these birds of different ages, and therefore differing in colour and size, leaving to the naturalists of Europe to determine, if they can, whether the American species be the same as the one found in that portion of the globe. For my part, I believe the two to be the same. In our species the transverse lines of the breast disappear as the bird advances in age, when the tint of the upper part of the plumage also becomes lighter.

Adult Male. CXCII. Fig. 1.

Bill of moderate length, strong, compressed; upper mandible with the dorsal outline a little arched, the tip declinate, the edges sharp and inflected towards the strong process, which is separated from the tip by a deep sinus; lower mandible with the dorsal line convex, the sides rounded, the edges inflected, the acute tip ascending. Nostrils basal, lateral, half closed by an arched membrane. Head large, neck short, body robust. Feet of ordinary length; tarsus rather short, compressed, anteriorly scutellate, sharp behind; toes five, the lateral ones nearly equal, the hind toe stouter; claws arched, compressed, acute.

Plumage soft, blended. Long bristles at the base of the bill. Wings of ordinary length, the fourth quill longest, third little shorter, second shorter than sixth, first about half the length of second; secondaries rounded, with a minute tip. Tail long, straight, graduated; of twelve rounded feathers.

Bill brownish-black at the end, paler towards the base, the edges of both mandibles and the basal part of the lower, flesh-colour tinged with yellow. Iris hazel. Feet brownish-black. The upper parts are light ash-grey, the ends of the scapulars, and the rump feathers and upper tail-coverts, greyish-white; a streak of the same colour over the eye; the lore and ear-coverts brownish-black. The first row of smaller wing-coverts, the primary and secondary coverts, and the quills, brownish-black; the latter, especially the secondary quills, as well as their coverts, tipped with white. Base of the primaries white, forming a conspicuous spot on the wing. Tail-feathers brownish-black; outer web of the outermost, with more than a third of the inner web from the tip, white; the extremities of all the rest, excepting the two middle, of the same colour, which gradually occupies less extent on the inner feathers. The whole under surface greyish white, tinged with brown on the fore part of the breast, which is transversely marked with faint undulating bars of dark grey, as are the sides.

Length 10¼ inches, extent of wings 14; bill along the back ¾, along the edge of lower mandible 1 2/12; tarsus 1 1/12.

Adult Female. Plate CXCII. Fig. 2.

The female differs from the male only in having the head and neck slightly tinged with brown, the band before the eye obscure, and the under parts with more numerous undulated lines.

Adult Male in summer. Plate CXCII. Fig. 3.

The grey of the upper parts tinged with brown, the white of the lower with yellowish-brown, in other respects the same.

Young bird. Plate CXCII. Fig. 4.

The bill greyish-blue, at the end brownish-black, the upper parts grey, deeply tinged with brown, with which the quills and their coverts are margined; the upper tail-coverts transversely barred; the whitish line over the eye less distinct, the ear-coverts dark brown, the lower parts pale grey, tinged with brown, and undulated all over; the four middle tail-feathers black.

The older the birds are, the more pure and pale does the grey of the upper parts become, while the undulations of the lower parts gradually disappear, although I have not seen an individual in which they were altogether obliterated.

On comparing this bird with the Lanius Excubitor of Europe, I cannot perceive any differences that could induce me for a moment to conceive them distinct. The relative length of the quills, the length of the bill and tarsus, the general form, size, and colouring, differ in no essential respect. I am, therefore, decidedly of opinion that our Shrike is the same bird as that which occurs in Europe. The old female, as has been stated above, differs little in tint from the old male, the younger birds only (of both sexes) being deeply browned. A fine adult male which was shot near Edinburgh, and is preserved in the beautiful Museum of the University of that city, agrees in all respects with specimens from America in my possession.

This species of Hawthorn bears a great resemblance to that so common in Europe. It grows on the banks of rivers and in damp woods in several of the Southern States, and attains a height of twelve or fifteen feet. The leaves are somewhat triangular in their general outline, inciso-lobate, the lobes acute and deeply toothed; the flowers white, and the berries ovate or oblong, of a deep red colour.