CHAPTER IV. 



INSESSORES (Perchers). 

 DENTIROSTRES (Tooth-billed). 



THE second great Order of birds, the ' Perchers,' contains so many 

 species that, in order to avoid confusion (as I have before pointed 

 out), it was found necessary to subdivide it generally into tribes, 

 before descending to investigate the families which compose it ; 

 and perhaps we shall be prepared to examine these several 

 families and their component species with the greater assiduity 

 when we consider that it embraces not only those vast flocks of 

 the finch and sparrow tribe which throng our yards in the 

 winter, and those great colonies of the rook and crow tribe which 

 surround our homesteads, but also all the warblers and small 

 birds which fill our gardens, woods, and fields in the summer, 

 whose active forms delight our eye, and whose varied notes 

 charm our ear so continually ; in short, so extensive numerically 

 as well as specifically is this order, that I suppose I shall be 

 within bounds when I say that almost all the birds (perhaps not 

 less than ninety-nine out of every hundred) that usually come 

 under our notice in this inland county belong to the Perchers. 

 The first tribe of this Order is that of the ' tooth-billed ' or ' notch- 

 billed' (Dentirostres), and includes the principal insect-eating 

 families of the Order, foremost of which stand 



LANIAD.E (THE BUTCHER BIRDS). 



I have before remarked what a connecting link the Butcher 

 birds, or Shrikes, form with the last-mentioned family, the Owls ; 

 and, indeed, these may well be termed diminutive birds of prey, 

 or falcons of the insect world, so fierce and savage is their dis- 



