106 BRITISH BIRDS. 



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THIS family of birds, though they are small, and 

 of a delicate form, yet their courage, their appetite 

 for blood, and their hooked bill, would seem to 

 entitle them to be ranked with the boldest and 

 the most sanguinary of the rapacious tribe. This 

 genus has been variously placed in the systems of 

 naturalists; it has been classed with the Falcons, 

 with the Pies, and it has been ranked, especially 

 by the later continental writers, with the harmless 

 and inoffensive tribes of the Passerine kind, to 

 which, indeed, in outward appearance at least, it 

 bears some resemblance. Conformably, however, 

 with what seemed to be the most natural arrange- 

 ment, it was, in former editions of this work, placed 

 in the rear of those birds which live by rapine and 

 plunder; and, like most of the connecting links in 

 the great chain of nature, it will be found to possess 

 somewhat of a middle quality, partaking of those 

 which are placed on each side of it, and making 

 thereby an easy transition from the one to the 

 other. 



The Shrike genus is distinguished by the follow- 

 ing characteristics : the bill is strong, straight at 

 the base, and hooked or bent towards the end ; 

 the upper mandible is notched near the tip, 

 and the base is furnished with bristles; it has no 

 cere; the tongue is divided at the end; the outer 

 toe is connected to the middle one as far as the 

 first joint. To these exterior marks may be added, 



