Birds of the Indian Hills 



THE LANIID^E OR SHRIKE FAMILY 



Shrikes or butcher-birds are hawks in minia- 

 ture, as regards habits if not in structure. 

 With the exception of the brown shrike (Lanius 

 cristatus), which is merely a winter visitor to 

 India, the rufous-backed shrike (L. erythronotus) 

 is the only butcher-bird common on the Nil- 

 giris. The head of this species is pale grey, 

 the back is of ruddy hue. The lower parts 

 are white. The forehead and a broad band 

 running through the eye are black. A bird 

 having a broad black band through the eye is 

 probably a shrike, and if the bird in question 

 habitually sits on an exposed branch or other 

 point of vantage, and from thence swoops on 

 to the ground to secure some insect, the pro- 

 bability of its being a butcher-bird becomes a 

 certainty. 



Closely related to the shrikes are the mini- 

 vets. Minivets are birds of tit-like habits 

 which wander about in small flocks from place 

 to place picking insects from the leaves of trees. 

 They are essentially arboreal birds. I have 

 never seen a minivet on the ground. 



The common minivet of the Nilgiris is the 

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