THE KING-CROW. 31 



explanation unless it is that the bird when sitting on a 

 bough or wire and turning round always does so on the same 

 side, so as to bring all the consequent friction on one-half 

 of the tail. The King-Crow's tail, indeed, seems rather 

 an unwieldy member, for he does not lift it up in the air 

 when on the ground, where it must be rather in his way, 

 and although a forked tail is undoubtedly meant as an 

 aid to evolution in flight, in our present subject it seems 

 unnecessarily long, and from its turned-up edges looks as 

 if it were quite as much for ornament as for use. 



The whole family of Drongos have more or less forked 

 tails ; this and their almost invariably black plumage 

 easily distinguishing them from their near relatives, the 

 shrikes, of which a typical representative may be seen in 

 Calcutta gardens in the person of the Brown Shrike (Lani- 

 us cristatus) a bull-headed, black-eyebrowed bird rather 

 larger than a sparrow, given to making highly unpleasant 

 noises and very appreciative of cockroaches thrown out 

 for him. Both shrikes and Drongos have the habit of 

 holding their food in one foot like a parrot, but the latter 

 are not known to impale their prey like the former. No 

 Drongos are found outside the old world, but in general 

 domineering their place is ably filled in America by the 

 king-bird and other members of the American family of 

 tyrant-flycatchers. In Europe no bird seems to have 

 taken up this position, though the missel-thrush attempts 

 it a little. Perhaps the European birds are too free and 

 independent to be^thus lorded over, or possibly the supply 

 of insects is not suitable for the support of birds which, 

 although as big as thrushes, do not hunt for their prey, 



