DENTIROSTRES. 



THE first of the great tribes into which the 

 incessorial birds are separated, the Dentirostres, 

 exhibits a continuation of the notched or toothed 

 form of bill, which, under its various modifications, 

 is more or less adapted for seizing and lacerating 

 a living and resisting prey. This is particularly 

 marked in the 



LANIAD.E, 



all the sub-families of which are raptorial, feed 

 entirely on living prey seized by their own 

 exertions, and typify, as it were, the noble and 

 ignoble forms of the true rapacious birds. When 

 passing from one great order of birds to another, 

 we would naturally expect to find some on each 

 side, to a certain extent, assimilating in their 

 form and habits; and thus, among the sub-family 

 Laniana or Shrikes, of which the British fauna 

 possesses only three representatives confined to 

 one genus, we perceive the lesser size and weaker 

 form of the incessorial order, combined with a 

 lacerating and toothed structure of the bill, and 

 with raptorial or predaceous manners. The 

 typical form, which is distributed in nearly equal 



