Home › Volumes › Bird Homes › Open Nests in Trees, Bushes, and Vines
Loggerhead Shrike; Butcher Bird
Adult--Upper parts gray; wings black, with white markings; tail black, with white tips; outside feathers white; a broad black line from base of bill to back of check; under parts white or pearly gray. Length--9.00.
Breeding Range--East of the Alleghanies, from northern Virginia southward, and occasionally north to southern New Jersey. West of the Alleghanies, "northward to the Great Lakes, and eastward through central New York to Vermont and Maine."
Note--The shrike found breeding in northern New England sometimes resembles more or less the white-rumped shrike (L. excubitorides), and is occasionally classified as such, but I believe it has been decided not to change the name of ludovicianus, as the differences are too slight and inconsistent.
The nest is composed of twigs, leaves, weeds, bark, grass, fine roots, and lined with grass, sometimes wool or feathers; it is rather bulky and loosely made, and is placed in a bush or tree, often a thorny bush or tree being chosen. The eggs number from 3 to 6; they are white, more or less tinged with yellow or green gray, thickly spotted, chiefly at the larger end, with yellowish brown and lilac. Size--.98 x .80. See Fig. 5, Plate D.
So much has been written on the evil propensities of this bird that he possesses a thoroughly bad reputation, and is spoken of as a murderer; and that simply because he is provident and lays up a store of food for the proverbial rainy day. His method leaves something to be desired, it is true, but there must be reason in what he does, and I cannot believe that any bird is cruel and kills for the sake of killing; that is left for man. The Loggerhead Shrike catches his prey, consisting chiefly of grasshoppers, and impales them, often before they are dead, on a thorn, to be eaten at leisure. The breeding season begins, according to locality, from May to June, two broods being usually reared.