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saying this I am supposing that all the species of the genus

Myiophoneus are rapacious like the subject under consideration,

but on this point I am without information. I have not often

kept a true Shrike, and do not know if they, or any of them, kill

their prey with only the hind claw in the manner I have

described ; but it seems to me that Bob is more nearly allied in

his habits, although not in build and movements, to the Shrikes

than to the Thrushes. In shape he is rather Chat-like, in some

of his movements very Robin-like ; he holds up his head, and

will occasionally jerk up his tail and take a short run ( d ), remark¬

ably like our Robin Redbreast, and promises before long to assert

himself with all Cock Robin’s boldness and confidence. The

name “ Whistling-Shrike,” therefore, would be inadmissible ;

but “Whistling-Bird” would suit well enough, and the mis¬

leading word “ Thrush” would thus be avoided. I have noticed

but one Thrusli-like habit in my bird, and that is hammering

stones, &c., against the bottom of his cage. Occasionally I have

succeeded in getting a snail for him, and the shells of these he

smashed by banging them about rather than against any special

stone ; so far he has always devoured the snails. Some cotton

reels in his cage he would sometimes bang against the floor with

such violence as to be heard half over the house.


When we consider the manner in which he kills a bird,

we might suppose that he would hold his food down with one or

both feet while pecking at it. But this is not the case. I have

never seen him do so except on the one occasion when he was

detected whilst actually engaged in killing a bird. It I give him

any food of any kind, say a bone to pick, and he used to like a

pheasant or chicken bone, or even that of a mutton chop, he

picks at it as if he considered that the bone ought to be fixed,

but never touches it with his foot. Perchance in his wild state

he would, Slirike-like, fix his prey on to a thorn or spike of some

kind, and would then be able to pick at it to some purpose.


At page 2 of Vol. VII. of the Catalogue, Dr. Bowdler

Sharpe seems inclined to find fault with Mr. Seebohm for having

excluded this (and other) species from the Thrushes ( T21rdid.cE).

I do not understand that the young of Myiophoneus have the

spotted plumage of the Turdidce; and probably Mr. Seebohm

was not far wrong in excluding them.


On May 3, Bob was transferred to a house I had had built

for him in the garden aviary, consisting of a sheltered inner



( d ). Not strictly correct as regards the “ run ” of the Robin ; the Blackbird on the

lawn might be more accurate.—R. P.



