vii LANIIDAE 535 



and Eed-backed Shrikes, of which only the last-named breeds in 

 our island. The Sub-family contains many of these quarrelsome, 

 rapacious birds, often seen perched on the tops of bushes, or chasing 

 each other along the hedge-rows. The flight is strong and rapid, 

 but undulating and brief; the food, which may be taken on the wing, 

 or procured upon, the ground, consists of small mammals and birds, 

 insects, snakes, lizards, frogs, or even crabs and fruit, the creatures 

 not devoured at once being impaled on thorns or spiky leaves. The 

 " larders " are usually near the nest, which is a bulky mass of twigs, 

 grass, and the like, with a softer lining, placed in a thick bush or 

 fairly high up a tree ; the four to seven eggs vary from green to 

 reddish-buff or whitish, and are spotted, blotched, and generally 

 zoned, with brown, red, olive, green, or a little grey. Sometimes 

 the male incubates. The usual note is harsh and grating, but shriller 

 cries or sweeter songs are not uncommon, while certain species are 

 good mimics. Pellets of the indigestible portions of the food are 

 ejected after eating, as in Birds of prey, and elsewhere. 



Sub-fam. 5. Prionopinae. The " Wood-Shrikes " are usually 

 dull in colour, though some have the normal browns, greys, and 

 blacks relieved by bright chestnut, fawn, or yellowish-white, and 

 several are black and white, or uniform black. They frequent trees 

 and bushes, and eat molluscs and fruit ; but live chiefly upon insects 

 captured on the branches or on the ground, if not by darting into 

 the air from a perch. Their flight, rapid but short, is com- 

 monly performed with quivering wings ; they hop easily upon the 

 ground ; while their notes take the form of a rather pleasing 

 Thrush-like song or a harsh chatter. The slight, loose nest, built 

 in a low fork, in the hollow of a stump, or even on a rocky ledge, 

 is made of moss, grass, bark, roots, wool, feathers, lichens, cobwebs, 

 or downy seeds ; the three eggs being white, greenish, or buff, often 

 with brown, black, and grey blotches, dashes, freckles, or zones. 



Grallina, the " Magpie-Lark " of Australia and New Guinea, 

 doubtfully placed here, possesses vocal organs abnormal for an 

 Oscinine bird. 1 Graceful and tame, it frequents homesteads, 

 stream-sides, and swamps, having a heavy, flapping flight, utter- 

 ing a shrill, plaintive whistle, and plastering a nest of mud and 

 grass on some horizontal bough. The three or four eggs are 

 white or pinkish, marked or zoned with red, brown, and lilac. 



The Helmet-bird of Madagascar (Eurycerosprevosti), a purplish- 

 1 H. Gadow, Bronn's Thier-Reich, Aves, Syst. Theil, 1893, p. 281. 



