LANIAD;E. 45 



county alone, but throughout the kingdom sacri- 

 ficed to the gamekeepers and to the rage for battue- 

 shooting. That the game-preserver and his keeper 

 are not always doing the best for their own cause by 

 the total destruction of these birds I think will 

 appear from the short notices I have been able to 

 give of the food of the different species, and in some 

 cases they are doing absolute mischief to themselves 

 as well as to the farmer by this destruction, which 

 allows the increase of various insects and animals 

 mischievous to both. 



ORDER INSESSORES. Div. DENTIROSTRES. 

 Family LANIAD.E. 



I now come to the second great Order, namely, 

 the Insessorial, or perching birds. This is by far 

 the largest of the five, containing as many as one 

 hundred and forty-seven recognized British species ; 

 it is itself divided into four Divisions, the first of 

 which is the Dentirostres, or soft-billed birds, which 

 contains as many as sixty-nine British, out of which 

 I am able to include fort} T -four Somersetshire spe- 

 cies. The Laniadse, or Shrikes, come first in order ; 

 of these there are three, or perhaps four,* British 

 species, of which I can include two. 



* See some notes in various numbers of the ' Zoologist.' 



