MALACONOTUS Baibarus. 

 Sarhary, or yellow-crowned Shrike. 



Family Laniadse. Sub-family Thamnophilinae. Nob. 



Generic Character. 



Swains, in Zool. Joiun. 3. p. 163. 



Specific Character. 



Above glossy black, beneath crimson ; crown fulvous yellow : vent 

 andjla?iks bujf. 



lanius barbarus, Linn, Icon. PL Enl. 56. 

 Laniarius barbarus. Ency. Meth. Orn. p. 756. 

 I.e Gonolek. Le Vaill. Ois. d'Af. pi. 69. 



The true Shrikes, of which two, if not three species inhabit 

 England, are bokl and cruel birds : they attack others, 

 scarcely smaller than themselves, and seize them like a 

 Falcon, by their talons during flight. The Bush Shrikes 

 on the other hand, are a more ignoble race ; they only 

 prowl after young or sickly birds, and seek their principal 

 nourishment from those insects which shelter in foliage. 

 These birds form two distinct groups, confined to the 

 tropical latitudes of the Old and the New World. The 

 first, ThamnopliiluSy is restricted to America, and the spe- 

 cies are known by their dark coloured plumage. Malacono- 

 ius, is, we believe, purely an African group, while most of 

 the typical species, like the present, are cloathed in bright 

 and beautiful colours. 



This elegant bird seems to be abundant in Western 

 Africa, but is rare towards the Cape of Good Hope. Hence 

 Le Vaillant had no opportunity of learning its peculiar 

 manners. Its size is that of a Thrush ; the feathers on the 

 back are very long, and the first joint of the outer toe is free. 

 Nature, ever prone to typify her relations, and to preserve 

 harmony between groups, essentially distinct, has given to 

 the bill of this bird, a form closely resembling that of Pitta ; 

 the genus by which Malaconotus is represented among the 

 Thrushes. 



A partial consideration of this group induced us, some 

 years ago, to adopt the generic name of Laniarius ; but in 

 a more recent investigation of the species so denominated, 

 we have failed to discover suflicient reason for separating 

 them, geuerically, from Malaconotus 



71. 



