SHRIKES AND ALLIED SPECIES. 487 



rounded. About five large stiff bristles at the base of the upper 

 mandible on each side ; smaller bristles on the nasal membrane. 

 Wings, Fig. 150, of moderate length, broad, semi-ovate, often 

 concave, rounded, with nineteen quills ; the first not generally 

 half the length of the second, sometimes wanting ; the third, 

 fourth, and fifth longest. Tail of twelve straight feathers of 

 moderate breadth, varying in length and form, generally a little 

 emarginate and rounded. 



The Laniinje, composed of the genera Lanius, Falcuncu- 

 lus, Telephonus, Malaconotus, Thamnophilus, Vanga, Barita, 

 and others, are in a manner intermediate between the Myiothe- 

 rinte, Turdinae, Corvinoe, and Falconinre, of which they com- 

 bine the characters and habits. With, the Myiotherinae they 

 agree to a certain extent in the form of their bill and feet, and 

 in their being addicted to the pursuit of insects ; but they differ 

 in having the bill stronger, although more compressed, and the 

 feet better adapted for walking and perching securely. In the 

 latter circumstance, in the form of the wings and tail, and in 

 some degree in that of the bill, they are allied to the Turdinre, 

 which they also partly resemble in habits, being to a great ex- 

 tent plurivorous. The affinity of many of them to the Hawks 

 is very striking, especially in the form of the bill, which is 

 strong and more or less hooked, as are their claws. Accord- 

 ingly, not content with insects, worms, mollusca, and fruits, 

 many of them attack live birds and quadrupeds. So great in 

 fact is their resemblance to the Falconinjs in these respects that 

 they have frequently been placed by systematists in the same 

 order. They are truly rapacious birds, and certainly a Shrike 

 is as nearly allied to a Falcon as many Vultures are. Nor 

 would it at all, in my opinion, be less in accordance with the 

 affinities of these groups were the analogical systematists to con- 

 sider them as the insessorial section of the Raptores, rather than 

 as the raptorial section of the Insessores. I therefore humbly 

 suggest to Mr Swainson the propriety of removing the Dididaa 

 out of the Raptorial circle, as nature has fairly expunged them 

 from her album, and putting in their place the Laniidae. The 

 Falconidae and Strigidae might form a single group. The ^^ul- 

 turida? may remain. And thus the Raptores will be composed 



