VII LANIIDAE 5 3 I 



long, pointed, and slightly curved, with wide gape. The meta- 

 tarsi are short and strong ; the wings are much elongated ; the 

 tail is short and occasionally emarginate, with soft, exserted 

 shafts to the rectrices in Pseudochelidon, which is glossy greenish- 

 black with red beak and feet. Artamus, where powder -down 

 patches occur on the sides, thighs, and lower back, exhibits black, 

 brown, rufous, or grey tints, relieved by white especially below, or 

 towards the tip of the tail ; the bill is blue with black extremity, 

 the feet are greyish. The sexes hardly differ. 



These woodland birds often float nearly motionless in the air, 

 occasionally moving ahead with a few strokes of the wing ; at other 

 times they wheel and twist about like Swifts. They hawk for insects, 

 or sally after them from their perches, feeding also upon the ground, 

 on the larvae and on seeds. Congregating like Swallows, they have 

 in Australia a curious habit of hanging in ball-like masses from 

 the branches ; tlie note is plaintive or chirping. The nests, often 

 found in close proximity, are placed in forks of trees, on their side- 

 shoots, in holes, behind loose bark, in deserted habitations of other 

 birds, or in bushes ; the outer materials being twigs and grass, 

 those of the lining fibres and feathers. From two to four white, 

 greenish, or flesh-coloured eggs are deposited, spotted and streaked 

 with vmiber, red-brown, grey, lilac, or occasionally black. 



Fam. XVI. Laniidae. Few Families are more difficult to 

 define than this. A typical Shrike is easily recognised ; but such 

 forms as Pachycephala and Hemipus are closely connected with 

 the Muscicapidae ; Calicalicus and Neolestes with the Pycnonotidae ; 

 Gymnorhina and its allies with the Corvidae ; while some authors 

 include the Campephagidae. Dr. Gadow ^ recognises five Sub- 

 families : (1) Gymnorhininae, (2) Malaconotinae, (3) Pachycepha- 

 linae, (4) Laniinae, and (5) Vireonhiae ; but the last-named is here 

 allowed Family rank, while Prionopinae is admitted in its place. 



The bill is stout, notched, and often strongly hooked, while 

 it is either curved or straight ; in Falcunculus it is more than 

 usually compressed, in Phectes the maxilla has the edge finely 

 serrated, in Xenopirostris the mandible is upcurved, leaving a 

 distinct gap above it. In the Gymnorhininae the culnien is 

 long, straight, and slightly rounded, with slit-like nostrils near 



^ Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. viii. 1883, p. 89. The Gymnorhininae belong to the group 

 Austro-coraccs or Koto-coracoitwrj)hae, if such be admitted ; i.e. to tlie apparently 

 generalized forniswhence the Corvidae (i^. 557)and i)erliaps theLaniidac, have sprung. 



