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square, bufc never forked. The tarsi 

 are shorfc, and scutellated, and the feet 

 are moderately strong. 



Shrikes feed on insects, small 

 reptiles, animals, and birds, which 

 they kill by striking or siezing with 

 thoir strong bills. They do not use 

 their feet to hold their prey as do the 

 Eaptorial birds. 



They all have the peculiar habit of 

 impaling their prey on thorns or sharp 

 twigs, probably to hold it while they 

 tear it pieces. They often kill more 

 than they can eat, and leave their 

 victims impaled, where they dry in 

 the sun. 



With two exceptions, this is an Old 

 World Family, numbering over 

 seventy species, thirteen of them 

 being found in China, and seven or 

 eight in the Yangtse Valley. 



THE EASTEEN GEAY SHEIKB. 



LANIUS SPHENOCEECUS, CAB. 



Description. — Length twelve inches. 

 Bill and tarsus black. 



Plumage clear gray above, shading 

 into white on the forehead and 

 upper tail coverts, and pure white 

 below. A black stripe through 

 the eye and over the ear coverts. 

 A white eyebrow. Greater and 

 lesser wing coverts black. Primaries 

 white at the base, and black on the 

 terminal half. Secondaries white at 

 the outer end. Central retrices black, 

 outer ones white. 



This Shrike is very closely allied to 

 the Gray Shrike of Europe fLanius 

 excubitor), differing from it in having 

 more white on the wings, and a longer 

 tail. 



