SHRIKES. 511 



seen. Occasionally others will join the original assailant, and assist in driving off their 

 coininon enemy." Anatomically the drongos are remarkable as being the only Passeres 

 in which the accessory seniitendinosus is absent, their myological fornmla being AX. 



Perha]is not distantly related to the shrikes, the wax-wings, and their few allies, 

 the Ampelidje will have to find a place somewhere in this neighborhood. A familiar 

 e-xample of this small group is the beautiful cedar-bird {Ampelis ceclrorum) from North 

 America. The other species occurring in our country (,J. (jurnduti) is more northern 

 in its distribution, and is also found all over the northern ]iarts of the Old World. A 

 very unique ornainLMit in these birds is the horny llattened lauielhe-like emls of red 

 sealing-wax appended to the sh.-ifts of the secondaries, and sometimes to the tail-feath- 

 ers, as seen in the accompanying cut. The history of the Bohemian wax-wing is 

 interesting for its gipsy-like wanderings, one winter visiting one country, next season 

 another, often in enormous flocks, and usually with the intervals of many years, so 

 that in former times their a]ipearance was regarded as sure forebodings of war and 

 pestilence, their arrival being dreaded as much as that of a comet. Another interest- 

 ing feature of its ornithological history is the fact that this familiar bird for a long 

 time eluded the search of the oologists; for its breeding habits and eggs, and even the 

 places where it breeds, were unknown thirty years ago, until finally discovered in 

 Lapland by 3Ir. WoUey, after a diligent search during four summers. 



It would only be repetition of former statements in regard to doubtful families 

 were we to say anything more about the position in the system of forms like the 

 wood-swallows, or swallow-shrikes (xVetamid.k), a small family of shrike-like birds 

 from Australia, and adjacent islands, similar in habits, flight, and partly in aiiiiearanee 

 to the swallows. They are birds of sombre, dusky, or gray colors. A very iieculiar 

 habit of the Australian comniDii wood-swallow {Artamus sordidi/n) is recorded by 

 Mr. Gould's assistant, ]\Ir. (iilbert, during his residence at Swan IJiver, as follows: 

 "The greatest peculiarity in the hal)it of this bird is its manni'r of sus]ieiidiiig itself 

 in jierfect clusters, like a swarm of bees; a few birds suspending themselves on the 

 under side of a dead lir:inili, while others of the fhick attach themselves one to the 

 other, in such numbiis that tiny have been observed nearly of the size of a bushel 

 measure." 



Had it not been for the generally accepted family term for the foregoing group 

 we should have lum])cd thciu with the heterogeneous assemblage called the Laniid.e, 

 shrikes or butcher-birds, thc^ typical forms of which are characterized by thtir stout 

 and strongly hooked and toothed bill, which in some of the genera strongly resembles 

 that of the Accipitres, without having the cere at base, of course. 



In the types first to meet tis, however, the bill is more straight, the coloration is 

 crow-like, and altogether the (Tynniorliiiunaj may be as nearly related to the ancestors 

 of the crows as to those of the shrikes. A structural feature of their own is that the 

 nostrils are placed very far forward, almost midway lutwecn base and tip of bill, are 

 quite bare of either bristles or feathers, and have entirely ossided margins. The 

 whitish blue color of the bill in some forms is also quite characteristic. Here belong 

 the crow-shrikes, genera Strepera, Cracticus, and (Tipniior/iiiKi, from Australia, 

 Cracticiis, also from the Austro-^Malayan sub-region. A good example is given in 

 the '])iping crow-shrike' ( <9. /(7<(Ve/(), figured on the plate facing ])age olO. It is 

 black and white, with a bluish ash-colored bill, and of the size of a small crow. 

 According to Oould, it is a bold and showy bird, which, when not harassed and 

 driven away, greatly enlivens and ornaments tlie lawns and gardens of the Australian 



