BUSH SHRIKES. 



'49 



mostly reside in the forests, searching the foHage of the low bushes 

 and the trunks of trees for the coleopterous and other insects upon 

 which they subsist. Their nests are usually placed in thick bushes, 

 at no great distance from the ground ; the exterior is frequently 

 made of small spinous branches, the interior lined with hair. Their 

 eggs vary from two to five in number. 

 One of the best-known species is — 



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Fig. 79.— TnE M^N.-cOi-O^RED L^ 



{L.^umrinS ■i,^ult,^,^lor). 



The Spotted Bush Shrike {Tha7)inophilus ncrvius), sometimes called 

 " Battara," from the name applied to them in their native country. The 

 Spotted Battara inhabits Cayenne and Brazil, dwelling among the bushes, 

 usually in pairs, and exhibits much familiarity, often approaching the dwel- 

 lings of men. The food of this and other species consists of insects and their 

 larvte, which they generally capture among the branches of the bushes and 

 underwood; indeed, they may be called emphatically "bush-lovers," as their 

 name imports. It is said that they are only met with to the eastward of 

 the Andes. They very rarely descend to the ground, and then only to pick up 

 some tempting morsel, with which they immediately fly up again, to eat it 

 upon the lower branches of the bush they have just left. They do not seem 

 to be migratory, although they are constantly wandering from one locality to 

 another. Frequently the traveller through the dreary solitude, more especially 

 in the spring season, is startled by their loud and suddenly-uttered notes 

 — particularly by the sonorous voice of the male, to which the female re- 

 sponds in a tone less obtrusive and not so distinctly pronounced. In vain he 

 looks everywhere in search of the cause of a noise so strange and une.xpcctcd, 



