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I Famuwy LANIADA (Shrikes) 
Are composed of the following Sub-Families :— 
(i) LANIANE ... True Shrikes, having large bills. 
(ii) MALACONOTINA ... Bush Shrikes, bills larger, feed chiefly 
on insects. 
(iii) DicrURINE ... Drongo Shrikes, with long depressed 
bills, tails long and forked. 
(iv) ARTAMINA ... Swallow Shrikes. Bill short; tail 
short, wings long and swallow- 
like in appearance. 
(v) CAMPEPHAGINA ... Cuckoo Shrikes. Bill wide at the 
hase, slightly hooked; feed on 
insects; tail more or less racket 
shaped—Cuckoo-like, also their 
plumage to some extent. 
Sup-Famiry LANIAN AS (True Shrikes) 
Birds with slightly parrot or hawk-like bills, strongly notched, 
having a prominent, overlapping “tooth” or hook; claws sharp. 
Most of these Shrikes are dull plumaged birds. The Lahtora chiefly, 
rivals some of the mammals in cruelty. True Shrikes appear to have 
a partiality for “high game.” They usually empale their victims, on 
big sharp thorns, which surround their larders, they not infre- 
quently maintain, which is generally, on a leafy thorn-bush or tree. 
It is suggested, that, this is to soften the meat for which they are 
screwing up an appetite. I have seen a sickly little bird thus em- 
paled, calling out loudly for help, and Lahtora, looking on with grim 
satisfaction, in fact it hardly heeded me, when I turned my _ atten- 
tion, to it, and knocked it off its perch with No. 8 shot, from a 
collector’s gun. The only good quality I can see, just at present, 
in these Shrikes, is the warning cry of /ahtora,—shrike ! shrike!! 
uttered in an excitable manner, while it skims over long lemon grass 
in the Terai jungles. Every now and again the warning note is 
heard, directing your attention, by shooting down in a_perpendicu- 
lar flight, towards a spot where the monarch of the forests, you 
have gone out to hunt may be, is stalking you, slowly, prowling like 
a great cat to take you unawares. These useful acts of service, are 
certainly a redeeming characteristic, which Lahtora possess, along 
