336 



SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PASSERES— OSCINES. 



Fig. 201. — V. pusillus, nat. size. (From Baird.) 



bands and edgings, though evident, uarrow and whitish ; no decided olive or yellow anywhere. 

 Size of belli ; wing and tail of equal lengths, little over 2.00 ; bill 0.33 ; tarsus 0.66 ; middle 

 toe and claw 0.50; spurious quill about i as long as the 2d, which is intermediate between the 

 7th and 8th. A small, obscure-looking 

 species, resembliug belli, but much grayer, 

 taU relatively longer, spurious quill longer, 

 and 2d primary shorter. Arizona and 

 Southern California, common. 

 185. V. atricapil'lus. (Lat. ater, black ; capil- 

 his, hair.) Black-capped Gueenlet. 

 ^ : Top and side of the head black, ex- 

 cepting a white eye-ring and white loral stripe. Upper parts olivaceous ; lower parts white, 

 tinged with pale greenish on the sides and flanks. Wings and taU blackish, edged vdth 

 olivaceous, the former with two dingy whitish bars across the ends of the greater and median 

 coverts; lining of wings yellowish. Bill black; feet dark; iris red. Length 4.75; extent 

 7.25; wing 2.25; tail nearly 2.00; bill 0.50; tarsus 0.75; middle toe and claw 0.50; 1st 

 primary exposed 0.66. A specimen from Mazatlan, supposed to be a 9 , is described by Baird 

 and Ridgway as having the black of the head replaced by dark slate color, the upper parts 

 duller olive, the lower somewhat buffy. The black cap of the ^ renders the species con- 

 spicuous among all its congeners. Texas and Mexico, rare; few specimens known. Nest in 

 trees, pensile from a forked twig as usual in the genus, but eggs white, unmarked (as far as 

 known ; 15 examples examined) ; size 0.65-0.75 X 0.50-0.55. 



15. Family LANIID^ : Shrikes. 



Essentially characterized by the combination of 

 comparatively weak, strictly passerine feet with a 

 notched, toothed and hooked bill, the size, shape, and 

 strength of which recalls that of a bird of prey (fig. 

 202.). The family comprises about 200 recorded 

 species, referable to numerous genera and divisible 

 into three groups, not very well defined, however, of 

 which the following typical subfamily is the only 

 one occurring in America: — 



Fig. 202.— Shrikes' Bills, nat.size. (From Baird.) 



The circular nostrUs 



21. Subfamily LANIIN/E: True Shrikes. 



In this group the wing has 10 primaries and the tail 12 rectrices ; both are much rounded 

 and of nearly equal lengtbs. The rictus is furnished with strong bristles. 

 are more or less perfectly covered and con- 

 cealed by dense tufts of antrorse bristly 

 feathers. The tarsi are scutellate in front 

 and on the outside — in the latter respect 

 deviating from a usual Oscine character. 

 Our shrikes will thus be easily distinguished ; 

 additional features are given under head of 

 the genus Laniits, the only representative 

 of this group in America. Fig. 203. —Butcher-bird, reduced. (From Tenney, 



These shrikes are bold and spirited after Wilson.) 

 birds, quarrelsome among themselves, and tyrannical toward weaker species ; in fact, their 

 nature seems as highly rapacious as that of the true birds of prey. They are carnivorous, 



