THE SHRIKES. 39 



where he is red, and also has a yellow throat and fore- 

 head ; her wings and tail are brown where the male's are 

 black, and her crown and back of a grey-green hue. 



With the Minivets it is common to see one red bird with 

 a small flock of yellow ones no doubt the old pair and 

 their brood ; the natives, however, put a different inter- 

 pretation on it, and call one species the " beloved of 

 seven damsels. " 



I have seen the Short-billed Minivet in confinement, 

 brought down from the hills in consignments of small 

 birds from thence ; but the Minivets did not do very 

 well ; being true insect-feeders they need a great deal of 

 care, and I do not recommend anyone to keep them 

 except with a view to export. Such lovely and harm- 

 less creatures surely deserve introduction into any 

 country where they could live if turned out at large. 

 The nest of this bird, like those of Minivets generally, is 

 cup-shaped, made of fine twigs coated outside with 

 lichens, and placed rather high up in a tree, the Minivets 

 being thorough tree-haunters, and not coming to the 

 ground as many Shrikes do. The eggs are three to five in 

 number, spotted with red and purple on a whitish ground 

 In the Himalayas the bird breeds in May or June. 



THE PIPING-CROW SHRIKE OR AUSTRALIAN MAGPIE 

 (Gymnorhina tibicen)* is a Shrike of an entirely different 

 type again, of which we have no representatives in 

 India ; but as it is frequently imported, it deserves a 

 notice here. This "Magpie" only deserves its name by 

 reason of its pied plumage ; in form it rather resembles 

 the common House-Crow, which it equals in size- Its 



