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 scutel late; primaries ten; first primary 

 half the second, or shorter (occasionally wanting). 



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



LANIIN.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. 



VIREONINJE. 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 LANIIN^E. The Shrikes. 

 COLLYRIO, MOEHRING. 



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. 



COLLYEIO BOREALIS. Baird. 

 The Great Northern Shrike ; Butcher-bird. 



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

 Man., L (1832)258. 



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



Lanius excubitor. 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. 



