THE PIPING CROW SHRIKE. 277 



THE second sub-family of the Butcher Birds, namely, the THAMNOPHILIN^E, or Bush 

 Shrikes, are well represented by the beautiful VIGORS' BUSH SHRIKE. 



This bird is a native of Southern America, and is generally found in forests and thick 

 brushwood, where it passes its time in a constant search after the small mammalia, birds, 

 reptiles, and insects, on which it feeds. It is a large and rather powerful bird, and as it pos- 

 sesses a strong and sharply-hooked beak, is a very formidable foe to any creature which it 

 may attack. Its claws are also powerful, curved, and very sharp, so that the bird is aided by 

 its feet as well as by its beak in the demolition of its prey. In order to enable the bird to prey 

 among the rank herbage and thick, massy foliage of the localities in which it dwells, its legs 

 are long in proportion to the size of its body, and the grasp of its feet very strong, so that it is 

 able to perch upon a bough or on the ground, and raise its head to some height while surveying 

 the locality with its piercing glance. The wings are rather short and rounded, ap long and 

 sharply-pointed wings would be of little use in threading the network of leaves and branches 

 among which it takes up its residence. 



The tail of the Vigors' Bush Shrike is long in proportion to the size of the body, and 

 extends far beyond the closed wings. The general color of the male bird is sooty-black upon 

 the head and the whole of the upper surface, diversified with numerous transverse bars of rich 

 red chestnut. The under parts of the body are pale grayish-brown. The head is decorated 

 with a crest of erectile feathers, ruddy throughout the greater part of their length, and marked 

 with black at their tips. The female is distinguished from the male by the blacker crest, the 

 paler tint of the transverse bars, and the uniform ashen-gray of the under parts. The total 

 length of this species is about thirteen inches. 



There are many species of Bush Shrikes, the greater number being inhabitants of the 

 eastern hemisphere. As their name imports, they all live among the thickest brushwood and 

 in forests, and their food consists chiefly of insects. They are rather silent birds, their note 

 being merely a single syllable constantly repeated, and only uttered during the breeding 

 season. 



CONE-BILLED BIRDS. 



WE now arrive at a very large and important group, called from the shape of their beaks 

 the CONIROSTRES, or CONE-BILLED BIRDS. In these birds the bill varies in length and devel- 

 opment, in some being exceedingly short, while in others it is much elongated ; in some being 

 straight and simple, while in others it is curiously curved and furnished with singular appen- 

 dages ; in some being toothless, while in others there is a small but perceptible tooth near the 

 tip. In all, however, the bill is more or less conical in form, being very thick and rounded at 

 the base, and diminishing to a point at the extremity. There are no less than eight recognized 

 families of this large group, containing some of the most important and most remarkable 

 members of the feathered race. 



THE first family is that which is well known under the title of CORVID^E, or Crows, con- 

 taining the crows, rooks, magpies, starlings, and other familiar birds, together with the equally 

 celebrated but less known paradise birds, bower birds, troopials, and orioles. The beak of all 

 these birds is long, powerful, and somewhat compressed, i. e., flattened at the sides, curved 

 more or less on the ridge of the iipper mandible, and with a notch at the extremity. This 

 family is divided into several smaller groups or sub-families, the first of which is the PHONY- 

 GAMIN.E, or PIPING CROWS. These birds are inhabitants of Australia, New Holland, New 

 Guinea, and several adjacent islands, and may be distinguished by the long, narrow, and 

 naked nostrils. 



