. Diseases and enemies of poultry . edamage they do in this line is very trivial. They kill variouskinds of wild birds, but the species which they destroy arechiefly those of the Sparrow family. Concerning these birds Dr. Elliott Coues, one of the mostable ornithological authorities in America says: Shrikes arebold and spirited birds, quarrelsome among themselves, andtyrannical toward weaker species; in fact, their nature seemedas rapacious as that of the true birds of prey. They are carni-vorous, feeding on insects and such small birds and quad-rupeds as they can capture and overpower; many i
. Diseases and enemies of poultry . edamage they do in this line is very trivial. They kill variouskinds of wild birds, but the species which they destroy arechiefly those of the Sparrow family. Concerning these birds Dr. Elliott Coues, one of the mostable ornithological authorities in America says: Shrikes arebold and spirited birds, quarrelsome among themselves, andtyrannical toward weaker species; in fact, their nature seemedas rapacious as that of the true birds of prey. They are carni-vorous, feeding on insects and such small birds and quad-rupeds as they can capture and overpower; many instanceshave been noted of their dashing attacks upon cage-birds, andtheir reckless pursuit of other sipecies under circumstances thatcost them their own lives. But the most remarkable fact inthe natural history of the Shrikes is their singular and inex-plicable habit of impaling their prey on thorns or sharp twigs,and leaving it sticking there. This has occasioned many in-genious surmises, none of which, however, are GREAT NORTHERN SHRIKE 289 GREAT NOKTHEKN borealis. DESCRIPTION. Length about ten and one-half inches; extent about four-teen; tail about four and three-fourths; above pale bluish-gray,whitening on upper tail-coverts and scapulars; and some speci-mens have upper parts faintly tinged with pale rusty; belowwhitish (sometimes tinged with pale brown), breast and sideswaved with dusky or grayish lines; lores and a broad streakback of eye black; wings and tail blackish; the primaries (largewing quills) are white from base to about half their length;nearly all tail feathers have white tips and outer webs of lat-eral ones are white. Habitat.—Northern North America, south in the winter to themiddle portions of United States (Washington, D. C, Kentucky,Kansas, Colorado. .Arizona, etc.). This specios althoiigh recorded bv Dr. ^^^ P. Turn-bull, as a summer resident ou the inountaiu ridges ofthe .VUeghenies, do<S not, I ain (juite positive, eve
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirds, booksubjectmam
