Page:Bird-lore Vol 05.djvu/135

 The Loggerhead Shrike in Massachusetts

BY JANE ATHERTON WRIGHT. Greenﬁeld. Mass

\\'rth photographs mun Ilaluu' In Mrs. A. T. a n1:

6, 1901. our attention was attracted by a bird that ﬂew froln a growth of underhrush close beside the road to an old apple-tree about ten rods away. As it alighted on an exposed branch. we saw that it was an unfamiliar bird whose bluish gray and black markings were plainly

WHlLF. driving through Greenﬁeld Meadows with a friend. on July

visible. »

I had so long been watching for the Great Northern Shrike. in winter. that. as a nearer view was obtained. I felt reasonably sure the stranger musr be a Shrike: but a Shrike in that locality at that season of the year was a thing unknown. and creeping cautiously nearer the tree I looked more closelv at the bird. which sat calmly eyeing rne. apparently free from all con- cern. Yes. the black lores. wings barred with white. and black tail with the outer feathers white! It could be no other than a Shrike. and the Loggerhead. too. for close scrutiny showed the narrow black line at the base of the bill connecting the lores. And the ﬂight! "A piece of black and white patchwork ﬂuttering in the air.” Olive Thorne Miller has de- scribed it. Her words returned to me, and more than everl felt assured that by some strange chance the Loggerhead Shrike was. in truth, before me. Then from the other side of the tree appeared another of the rare beauties and without alarm scanned us curiously.

The drive home was accomplished in a marvelously short time, and, after a hurried reference to a text-book. by means of which lveriﬁed my hopes.l hastened back. fearing lest the bird should be gone: but. as we neared the tree. there. in the road beside it was a dainrv little fellow clad in black and gray, who. on our approach. ﬂuttered. hopped and tumbled to- ward the shelter of the apple-tree. until. when directly beneath it, a short and uncertain ﬂight concealed him among the friendly branchest

ur caution in approaching the tree was unnecessary. for. when we were beneath it. movements here and there betokened that the tree was the hiding place of more than one ﬂedgling: and, one by one. four young Shrike were discovered. They were. indeed. hardly distinguishable from the adult Shrikes save by their shorter wings and their inability to move about in the tree with case.

And now for the nest. which we felt sure must be located in the tree. Carefully and slowly we looked it all over. especially that part about seven feet from the ground.—the distance my books mentioned as the usual height at which the Shrikes built.—but our efforts were in vain and the darkness But a stop to all further search.

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