456 PERCHING BIRDS. 



webs, and other soft materials closely felted together. The entrance is placed on 

 the side about one-third the distance from the top, and is perfectly round with 

 smoothened edges ; the interior being lined with soft white feathers. The adult 

 male of this tit has the upper-parts bright cinereous brown, inclining to rufous ; 

 the quills of the wing are light brown ; the tail is pale rufous ; the sides of the head 

 and nape are grey ; and the throat, breast, and under-parts rufous white. 



There are several other genera of tits, such as the Oriental 

 uFgithaliscus, which comprises some small species differing from 

 the true tits in the more graduated form of the tail, the longer and more copious 

 feathers on the crown of the head, and the absence of a dark band on the under- 

 parts. The yellow-browed tit 5 vrus modestus) of the Himalaya represents a 

 second genus, distinguished from the preceding by the squared or slightly forked tail 

 In the neighbourhood of the tits Mr. Oates would place the so-called crow-tits 

 (Conostonui, Paradoxornis, Suth&ra, eta), which are restricted to the mountains of 

 North-Eastern India and parts of China, and are referred by some ornithologists to 

 the Crateropodidce. Mr. Oates writes that " the position of these birds has been 

 much disputed, but looking to the facts that they have ten primaries, that the 

 young are identical in plumage with the adult, and that the nostrils are completely 

 hidden by stiff bristles, their location with the crows and tits seems the proper 

 course to adopt." Those species of which the nesting is known, build cup-shaped 

 nests in trees, and lay eggs marked with yellowish brown and purple. 



The Shrikes. 

 Family LANIWJE. 



A somewhat variable group, including such different forms as the gay-coloured 

 minivets, the cuckoo-shrikes, the crested jay-shrikes, the plainer wood-shrikes, and 

 the Indian pied shrikes, the members of this family have the edges of both 

 mandibles either smooth, or the upper one simply notched or toothed, or both 

 together; the hinder surface of the metatarsus is smooth and covered with two 

 longitudinal plates ; the wing has ten primaries ; the tongue is of ordinary form : 

 the nostrils are clear of the line of the forehead, and more or less overhung with 

 bristles ; and there are twelve tail-feathers. The plumage of the nestling is cross- 

 barred, and there appears to be only an autumnal moult. The family comprises a 

 large number of genera, and, with the exception of South America, has a cosmo- 

 politan distribution, although most numerous in Africa. 



shriir Tit ^ ie s P ec i es composing the genus Falcwnculus have been de- 



scribed as uniting the form of a shrike with the habits of a wood- 

 pecker ; they possess a strong toothed bill, with which they are able to tear off 

 pieces of rotten wood, and even the bark of gum-trees in search of food, and they 

 have a crest of feathers. Inhabiting the larger branches of trees, and resembling 

 the tits in many of their habits, when attacked by an enemy they defend 

 themselves with ferocity. All being exclusively Australian, the white - bellied 

 shrike-tit (F. leucogaster) is a native of Western Australia, while the frontal shrike- 

 tit (F. frontatus) inhabits South Australia and Xew South Wales. 



