268 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



FAMILY LANIID^. 



Bill strong and compressed, the tip abruptly hooked ; both mandibles distinctly 

 notched, the upper with a distinct tooth behind, the lower with the point bent up; 

 tarsi longer than the middle toe, strongly scutellate; primaries ten; first primary 

 half the second, or shorter (occasionally wanting). 



The sub-families of Laniidce belonging to the United States are as follows : 



LAXIIX^E. Bill very powerful, much compressed, and abruptly hooked, with a 

 very prominent tooth behind the notch; wings considerably rounded; tail rather 

 long and graduated ; sides of the tarsi scutellate behind. 



VIREOXIN^E. Bill moderate, cylindrical, somewhat compressed ; wings long, the 

 first primary sometimes wanting ; tail short and nearly even ; sides of the tarsi behind 

 not scutellate. 



Sub-Family L ANTING. The Shrikes. 

 COLLYRIO, MOEHRDJG. 



Collyrio, MOEHRING, Genera Avium (1752), 28. (Type Lanius excubitor, L.) 

 Lanius, of AUTHORS. 



Feathers of forehead stiffened; base of bill, including nostrils, covered by bristly 

 feathers directed forward; bill shorter than the head, much compressed, and very 

 powerful ; culmen decurved from base, the mandible abruptly bent down in a power- 

 ful hook, what in acute lobe near the tip; tip of lower mandible bent upwards in a 

 hook ; the gonys very convex ; rictus with long bristles ; legs stout ; the tarsi are 

 rather short, longer than the middle toe; the lateral equal; the claws all very sharp 

 and much curved; wings rounded; the first primary about half the second, which is 

 equal to the sixth or seventh; tail longer than the wings, much graduated, the 

 feathers broad. 



COLLYRIO BOREALIS. Balrd. 

 r^ The Great Northern Shrike ; Butcher-bird. 



Lanius septentrionalis, Bonaparte. Syn. (1828), 72. Bon. List (1838). Nutt. 

 Man., I. (1832)258. 



Lanius borealls, Audubon. Syn. (1839), 157. 



Lanius exculitor. Wils., I. (1808) 74. Aud. Orn. Biog., II. (1834) 534. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Above light bluish-ash, obscurely soiled with reddish-brown ; forehead, sides of 

 the crown, scapulars, and upper tail coverts hoary-white; beneath white, the breast 

 with fine transverse lines; wings and tail black, the former with a white patch at 

 base of primaries and tips of small quills, the latter with the lateral feathers tipped 

 with white; bill blackish-brown, considerably lighter at the base; black stripe from 

 the bill through and behind the eye, but beneath the latter interrupted by a whitish 

 crescent. Female and young with the gray soiled with brownish. 



