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124 LANIIDZ, SHRIKES.—GEN. 53. 
obseure-looking species near belli?, which it replaces in Southwestern U.S; 
possibly a grayer, longer-tailed, geographical race, but more specimens will 
be required to prove this. Its habits are the same as those of Bell’s vireo. 
Cougs, Proc. Acad. Phila., 1866, 76; Bp., Rev. 360; Coop. 124. (V. bellit 
Coor., Proc. Cala. Acad. 1861, 122.). Ber . . PUSILLUS. 
Black-headed Vireo. Olive-green, the crown andi sides of head black; 
below white, olive-shaded on sides; 4%; wing 24; tail 2. Southwestern 
Texas, extremely rare; only three specimens known. Woopuowse, Proce. 
iC Phila. Acad. 1852, 60; Rep. Expl. Zuii 
River, 75, pl. 1; Cass., Ill., 153, pl. 243 
Bp., 337, and Rev. 353. . ATRICAPILLUS. 
Family LANIIDA. Shrikes. 
Essentially characterized by the combination 
of comparatively weak, strictly passerine feet 
with a notched, toothed and hooked bill, the 
size, shape and strength of which recalls that of 
a bird of prey. The family comprises about two hundred recorded species, refer- 
able to numerous genera, and divisible into three groups, of which the following is 
the only one occurring in America. 
2. Shrikes? bills. 
Subfamily LANIINA. True Shrikes. 
The genus Collurio is the only representative of this group in North America. 
In this genus the wing has ten primaries and the tail twelve rectrices; both 
are much rounded and of nearly equal lengths. The rictus is furnished with 
strong bristles. The circular nostrils are more or less perfectly covered and con- 
cealed by dense tufts of antrorse bristly feathers. The tarsi are scutellate in front 
and on the outside — in the latter respect deviating from a usual Oscine character. 
Our shrikes will thus be easily distinguished ; additional features are, the point of 
the wing formed by the 3d, 4th and 5th quills, the 2d not longer than the 6th, 
the 1st about half the 3d; the tarsus equalling or slightly exceeding the middle toe 
and claw; the lateral toes of about equal lengths, their claws reaching the base of 
the middle claw. In coloration our species are much alike, and curiously similar to 
the mockingbird, being bluish-, grayish- or brownish-ash aboye, white more or less 
evidently vermiculated with black below; wings and tail black variegated with 
white, rump and scapulars more or less whitish, and a black bar through the eye. 
These shrikes are bold and spirited birds, quarrelsome among themselves, and 
tyrannical toward weaker species ; in fact, their nature seems as highly rapacious 
as that of the true birds of prey. They are carnivorous, feeding on insects and 
such small birds and quadrupeds as they can capture and overpower; many in- 
stances have been noted of their dashing attacks upon cage-birds, and their reckless 
pursuit of other species under circumstances that cost them their own lives. But the 
most remarkable fact in the natural history of the shrikes is their singular and 
inexplicable habit of impaling their prey on thorns or sharp twigs, and leaving it 
sticking there. This has occasioned many ingenious surmises, none of which, 
however, are entirely satisfactory. They build a rather rude and bulky nest of 
twigs, and lay 4-6 speckled eggs. They are not strictly migratory, although our 
northernmost species usually retires southward in the fall. The sexes are alike, 
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