932 BIRDS. 
Lan. excubitor minor, Gm.; Enl. 32,1; Lan. minor, Naum. 56, 
said to be from Italy. (The Little or Gray Shrike). Somewhat 
smaller than the Common Shrike, the bill shorter and thicker, wings 
and tail similar) cinereous above; reddish on the belly; the black 
bands of the eyes united, on the forehead, in a large bandeau. A 
very distinct species. 
Lan. colluriorufus, and Lan. pomeranus, Gm.: Enl. 9,2; Lan. 
rutilus, Lath.; Lan. ruficollis, Sh.; Lan. rufus, Naum. 51. (The 
Red-backed Shrike). The bandeau, wings, and tail of the preced- 
ing; not quite so large; top of the head and neck, a vivid red; back 
black; the scapulars, belly, and rump, white. 
Lan. collurio, Gm.; Enl. 31; Naum. 52. (The Flayer or Butcher 
Bird). Still smaller; top of the head and rump ash coloured; back 
and wings fawn coloured; whitish below; a blackband over the eye; 
wing-quills black, edged with fawn colour, those of the tail black, the 
lateral ones white at base. It destroys small birds, young frogs, 
and great numbers of insects, which it sticks upon the thorns of 
bushes, in order to devour them at leisure, or to find them again 
when wanted. 
The last three species leave France during the winter. 
Other countries have several of these Shrikes with arcuated bills, the 
points of which latter diminish, and become weak, according to the species, 
so gradually, that it is impossible to fix a limit between this subgenus and 
the Thrushes*. 
There are other Shrikes, whose superior mandible is straight, and only 
them to the Lan. ludovicianus, and Lan. septentrionalis of Gm.; or to the Lan. arde- 
siacus and borealis of Vieillot, Am. 51 and 50; we must confess, however, that there 
is but little resemblance between these different figures. 
* The species with the strongest bills are, for instance: the Cape Shrike, (Lan. 
collaris, Gm.); Enl. 477, 1; Vaill. Afric. pl. lxi, lxiii—The Boubou, Vaill. 68 (Lan. 
boulboul, Sh.).—The Brubru, Vaill. 71 (Lan. capensis, Sh.).—La Petite Pie-gr. de 
Madag. (Lan. madagascariensis, Gm.); Enl. 299.—La Petite Pie-gr. bleue (Lan. 
bicolor, Gm.); Enl. 298.—La Pie-gr. de la Louisiane, (Lan. americanus), Enl. 397. 
—The Sourcirour, Vaill. 76, 2, or the Tangara verderoux of Buff. (Tanagra guianen- 
sis, Gm.)— The Black-headed Shrike of the Sandwich Islands, (Lan. melanocephalus, 
Gm.) Lath. Syn. I. 165.—La Pie-gr. a queue pointue, (Lan. pyrrhonotos), Vieill. 
Gal. 135. 
The genus Lanto of Vieill. is founded on an arcuate-billed Shrike; the edges of 
whose upper mandible are somewhat angular. It is the Tangara mordoré of Buff., 
Enl. 809, 2, (Lan. atricapilla, Gm.) 
Among the species most nearly allied to the Thrushes, we may admit the Mus- 
cicapa tamnophiloides, Spix, 26, 1.—JL’Oliva of Vaill. 75 and 76, 1, (Lan. olivaceus, 
Sh.).—The Gonolec, (Lan. barbarus, Gm.); Enl. 56, Vaill. 169.—The Lan. gutturalis, 
Daud. Ann. Mus. IIT. 144, pl. xv; or the Pie-gr. Perrin, Vail]. 286.—Le Merle a 
plastron noir (Turdus xeilonus,Gm.); Enl. 272, or the Bacbakiri, Vaill. 67 (Lan. bac- 
bakiri, Sh.).—La Cravatte blanche, Vaill. 115 (Motac. dubia, Sh.).—The Turdus crassi- 
rostris, Gm.; Lath. Syn. II. 34, which is the same as the Tanagra capensis, Sparm. 
Carls. pl. xlv, and several others quite as equivocal. It is from this subdivision, 
with weak bills, that Vieill. has established his genus Laniarius, Galer. 143. 
His Vireo only differs from it in the bill being a little shorter and more slender, 
Vir. flavifrons, Vieill. Am. 54, or Muscic. sylvicola, Wils. I. vii. 3.—V. musicus, 
Vieill. 52, or Music cantatriz, Wils. U1. xviii. 6, or Muscic. nove boracensis, Gm.—V. 
olivaceus, Ch. Bonap., or Muscic. oliv., Wils. II. xii. 3, or tamnophilus agilis, Spix, 34, 
1.—P. gilvus, Ch. Bonap., or Musc. melodia, Wils. V. xlii. 2. They lead us almost 
directly to the true Fauvets. 
