. Bird-life; a guide to the study of our common birds . rd who Lanius boreaiis. in his position and choice of food is Plate lviii. truly hawklike. Shrikes are solitary,never assembling in flocks or associating with other days are days of waiting, varied by a pounce uponsome unfortunate field mouse or dash into a flock of un-suspecting Sparrows. But, while they resemble the Hawksin these respects, their manner of capturing their prey dif-fers from that of their larger prototypes. The Shrikehas a Hawks bill but a Sparrows foot, and, lacking thepowerful talons which make so deadly a w
. Bird-life; a guide to the study of our common birds . rd who Lanius boreaiis. in his position and choice of food is Plate lviii. truly hawklike. Shrikes are solitary,never assembling in flocks or associating with other days are days of waiting, varied by a pounce uponsome unfortunate field mouse or dash into a flock of un-suspecting Sparrows. But, while they resemble the Hawksin these respects, their manner of capturing their prey dif-fers from that of their larger prototypes. The Shrikehas a Hawks bill but a Sparrows foot, and, lacking thepowerful talons which make so deadly a weapon, he cap-tures his prey with his strong mandibles. Possibly it maybe due to his comparatively weak feet that he pursues thesingular custom of impaling his prey on some thorn orhanging it from a crotch where he can better dissect it. The Shrike, or Butcher-bird, as he is also called, be-longs to a large family, but, with the exception of hissmaller cousin the Loggerhead, he is the only one of thetwo hundred known species found in America. He nests. Plate LXIV. PAGE 171. MAKYLAND YELLOW-THKOAT. Length, 5-30 inches. Adult male, face black, bordered by ashy; backolive-green; breast yellow; belly paler. Adult female, similar, but noblack on face; under parts paler. VIREOS. I63 within the Arctic Circle, and in October journeys south-ward, rarely as far as Virginia, and remains in the UnitedStates until April or May. The Loggerhead Shrike is common in the SouthernStates and Mississippi Valley, whence it has apparentlyextended eastward through central .New York to Ver-mont and Maine. It nests in these States, but southwardto Maryland is known only as a rare migrant—a uniquecase in distribution. It differs from the Northern Shrikein being an inch and a quarter smaller, in the absence of thewavy bars on the breast, which is pure white, and in hav-ing jet-black lores and a narrow black line across the fore-head at the base of the bill. Its song is creaky and un-musical, but the son
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