32 Introduction. 



putrid animal ; the eagle and falcon can tear in pieces the hare 

 or fawn ; the osprey, the fish ; the hawk, the small birds ; the 

 owl, the mouse ; and nothing can be conceived more applicable 

 for such work. 



The Perching Birds come next ; and their habits being more 

 peaceful and quiet, and their food being of a different nature, wo 

 shall find here no need of the powerful hook which we have seen 

 to be so useful to the Raptorial order. And yet as the perchers 

 include an immense number of families whose habits are exceed- 

 ingly various, and whose food is very diverse, it is clear that the 

 beak which would be most suitable for one would be wholly in- 

 appropriate to the other; on that account we shall find the 

 beaks of this order varying from one another very much. 



I have already observed in a former page that the first tribe 

 takes its name, Dentirostres, from the tooth or notch near the 

 extremity of the mandibles ; but the members of this tribe live 

 almost entirely, or at any rate chiefly, on insects, worms, and 

 such-like food ; we may see them hawking in the air, searching 

 in the grass, looking keenly under leaves and seizing them the 

 instant they appear ; for this purpose no strong beak is necessary, 

 but as the living prey which they seize struggles violently to 

 escape, what can be more suited for a firm hold than the soft 

 beak furnished with a tooth such as I have described above, and 

 which belongs to this tribe ? Moreover, the accurate Selby has 

 observed that 'the bill, too, is generally lengthened, so as to 

 defend the face from the struggles of their prey, which is always 

 taken by the aid of this member, or, where it is short and broad, 

 the base is furnished with stiff, projecting bristles, or having 

 feathers that answer the same purpose of defence.'* With this 

 notched beak the shrikes find no difficulty in seizing their prey ; 

 the fly-catchers can hold the insects they have caught; the 

 thrushes can retain the worm which they have drawn out of tbe 

 turf ; the warblers, the titmice, the wagtails, and the pipits can 

 take their insect food without chance of its escape. 



The second tribe of this order also derives its name, Coni- 

 * Selby, 'Illustrations of Ornithology,' vol. i., p. 138. 



