THE WORLD'S BIRDS. 



113 



Shrikes {Laniince), found almost everywhere ex- 

 cept in South America, are strong-billed, large- 

 headed insect-eaters, with, in typical cases, a decidedly 

 hawk-like beak. They are usually sedentary like 

 the Flycatchers, but take larger prey, being bigger 

 birds as a rule ; often they feed on other birds, or on 

 small reptiles and mice^ &c. The first plumage of the 

 young is barred. The nest is open and placed in a bush 

 or tree. 



The type, however, is not constant in this family ; 

 some Shrikes, chiefly African, have the very short wings, 

 strong feet, and general habits of Babblers, from most 

 of which their strong bills separate them ; others, as 

 the familiar "Australian Magpies" {Gyninorhina) , 

 look and behave much like Crows, but differ by their 

 exposed nostrils. The last-named are very familiar 

 birds in Australia, and are frequently exported ; they 

 have bred in England in one instance. Among the 

 Babbler-like forms the yellow-throated green Bacbakiri 

 of South Africa {Laniarius bacbakiri) is a familiar bird. 



The so-called Cuckoo- Shrikes are mostly weak 

 footed, tree-haunting forms, coloured much like some 

 Cuckoos, grey above and barred below ; but to the 

 same group belong the delicate and brilliant insect- 

 eating Minivets, the males of which are usually bright 

 red-and-black, and the females yellow- and-grey ; they 

 have long tails, and go in flocks. The best known is 

 the Indian Rajah Lai, Pericrocohis brevirostris. 



Starlings, or Mynahs [SturnincB), found almost all 

 over the Old World, have usually bills of an elongate- 

 conical shape, with the mouth noticeably turned 

 down at the corners, strong feet and short tails. 

 The plumage of the adults is usually glossy. They 

 build in holes in trees, etc., as a rule, but many usually 

 feed on the ground, where they run instead of hopping ; 

 they are omnivorous. They fly with a steady, even flight, 

 unlike the bounding action of most small Passerine birds. 



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