CUCKOO SHRIKES. 



M3 



has been carefully inspected, when they fly off together to another 

 tree. Their flight is undulating, powerful, and performed with few 

 vibrations of the wings. They rarely fly, except to pass from one 

 portion of the forest to another, or occasionally to take insects on 

 the wing as they pass within a certain distance from them when 

 perched. Their eggs are usually two in number, and are deposited 

 in a nest placed on the fork of a bough. It is composed of small 

 dead twigs firmly matted together with a very fine white downy 

 substance like a cobweb, intermixed with a species of lichen, and 

 is extremely shallow. 





Fig. 76.— The Bkaceleted C\teriillar eater (Ftilo^onys armillatus). 



The Red Shrikes or Minivets {Pcricrocotus) form a group of specie^ 

 much resembhng each other in the colours of their plumage, the males being 

 generally black and red, and the females grey and yellow. They are all in- 

 habitants of India and Malayana, live in small parties, are active and lively, 

 feed exclusively on insects, and keep up a continual chirping. 



The Large Minivet {Pericrocotus speciosus) is a splendidly coloured bird, 

 met with from the Himalayas to Central India, but it does not appear to go 

 farther south; it is not unfrequently met with at an elevation of from 3,000 

 to 4.000 feet above the level of the sea, and may be seen in company with its 

 playmates, flying briskly about among the branches of trees, picking up in- 

 sects from the leaves and blossoms, but it rarely descends to the ground. Its 

 call-note is lively, constantly repeated, and has rather a mellow sound. It seems 

 to be a great favourite among the inhabitants of the regions it frequents, and 



