568 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



Insessores. nera and subgenera. We shall here follow the outlines 

 v -" ~>^~~- / of Baron Cuvier's system, which we shall illustrate by oc- 

 casional figures. 1 



In the genus Lanius, the bill is of moderate size, but 

 strong, somewhat triangular at the base, and laterally com- 

 pressed. In the European species (which we call butcher- 

 birds) the upper mandible is somewhat arched. Three of 

 these (Lan. excubitor, colurio, and rufus) are natives of 

 England, but the first and last are very rare. The food 

 of butcher-birds consists chiefly of insects, but they at- 

 tack occasionally the smaller kinds of birds and quadru- 

 peds. Their mode of flight is irregular, the tail being 

 kept in constant agitation. The sexes differ from each 

 other in their plumage, and the immature birds bear a 

 resemblance to the adult females. In most of the species 

 the moult is single, in others double, that is, certain parts 

 of the plumage are changed twice a year. Our great ci- 

 nereous shrike (L. excubitor) destroys its larger prey by 

 strangulation, and transfixing it after death upon a thorn, 

 tears it into smaller parts at leisure. This wise but some- 

 what savage instinct seems implanted in the bird to make 

 amends for the comparative weakness of its feet and 

 claws. " This singular process," says Mr Selby, " is 

 used with all its food. I had the gratification of witness- 

 ing this operation of the shrike upon a hedge accentor 

 (A. modularis) which it had just killed ; and the skin of 

 which, still attached to the thorn, is now in my possession. 

 In this instance, after killing the bird, it hovered with 

 the prey in its bill for a short time over the hedge, ap- 

 parently occupied in selecting a thorn fit for its purpose. 

 Upon disturbing it, and advancing to the spot, I found 

 the accentor firmly fixed by the tendons of the wing at 

 the selected twig." I have met with the remains of a 

 mouse in the stomach of a shrike ; and Montagu mentions 

 one in which he found a shrew." 2 



We have figured, in illustration of the genus Lanius, 

 the species called fiscal (L. collaris) by Vaillant. See 

 Plate CCCXC. fig. 1. When this bird sees a locust, man- 

 tis, or small bird, it springs upon it, and immediately im- 

 pales it on a thorn, with such dexterity, that the spine 

 always passes through the head. It is a bold, vindictive, 

 noisy, and even cruel bird, for it seems to kill many more 

 victims than it actually requires for food. These are found 

 transfixed on many a neighbouring bush and tree, the 

 major part often so destroyed by dryness as to be totally 

 unfit for food. 



Some foreign species, in which the upper ridge of the 

 bill is straight, and the point only curved, form the genus 

 Thamnophilus of Vieillot. The Thamnophili inhabit 

 chiefly the tropical regions of the new world, but some 

 of the species have an extensive range, from Canada as 

 far southwards as Paraguay. In Tham. guttatus of Spix 

 the bill is very strong, and the inferior mandible inflated. 

 In others it is straight and slender, with its base adorned 

 with reversed setaceous feathers. Such is L. plumatus, 

 an African species, which forms the genus Prionops. of 

 Vieillot. 



In the genus Vanga (Plate CCCXC. fig. 3) the bill 

 is large, greatly compressed throughout, the point of 

 the upper mandible suddenly curved, the under mandible 

 bent upwards. Example, Lan. curvirostris, Gmelin. In 

 Ocyptebus, Cuv. the bill is conical, rounded, scarcely 

 arched towards the point, the termination very sharp and 

 tine, slightly notched. The legs are rather short, and 

 the wings long, from tvbich characters the species have 

 obtained the name of swallow butcher-birds ; but they are 



as courageous as other shrikes, and do not fear to attack Insessores. 

 even crows. The species are numerous along the shores s -""~ v~— ' 

 and islands of the Indian Seas, where they exhibit great 

 agility in the capture of their insect prey. Ex. Lan. leu- 

 corhynchos, Gm. In Baryta of Cuv. the bill is large, 

 conical, straight, round at the base, and encroaching on 

 the forehead by a circular notch ; the ridge is rounded, 

 the sides compressed, the point curved. The nostrils are 

 small and linear. The species of this genus, as well *as 

 those of Vanga, are by some combined with the crows, 

 as part of the conirostral tribe. We may name, as an ex- 

 ample, the piping grakle of the older writers ( Coraeias ti- 

 bicen, Lath.), a native of New Holland, where it is known 

 by the name of Jarra-war-nang. It preys on small birds, 

 and is said to have a melodious voice, resembling the tones 

 of a flute. The genus Chalyb^us, Cuv. has the bill re- 

 sembling the preceding, but rather thicker at the base, 

 and the nostrils are pierced in a broad membranous space. 

 See Plate CCCXC. fig. 6. The species are natives of 

 New Guinea, and are remarkable for their beautiful tints 

 of burnished steel. C. paradisceus has the feathers on 

 the head and neck like frizzled velvet, and was first de- 

 scribed by Sonnerat as a bird of paradise, — Par. viridis, 

 Gmelin. In Psaris of Cuvier the bill is conical, thick, 

 round at the base, but not encroaching on the front, 

 slightly compressed, and curved at the extremity. The 

 genus is founded on the Cayenne shrike of Latham, La- 

 nius Cayanus, Linn. 3 It now contains many species, all 

 classed by Mr Swainson among the Muscicapidas or fly- 

 catchers. Their habits are said to resemble those of the 

 butcher-birds. The genus Grauculus, Cuv. has the bill 

 less compressed than in Lanius, the upper ridge sharp, equal- 

 ly curved throughout its whole extent, the commissure or 

 cutting edges also slightly bent. The hairs which sometimes 

 cover the nostrils ally these species to the crows, from 

 which they are distinguished by the notching of the bill. 

 Their prevailing hues are ash-colour, and they are native 

 to the Indian islands. Cuvier here places the beautiful 

 Irena puella of Dr Horsfield, a Javanese species, of a 

 fine velvet black, the back splendid ultramarine blue. 

 It is ranged by others with the Orioles. To the same ge- 

 nus he likewise refers the Papuan and New Guinea crow 

 (C. papuensis and Novce Guinea), and the Piroll of Tem- 

 minck, of which the male and female differ so remarkably, 

 the former being of a glossy blue, the latter greenish. 

 This last species forms the genus Ptilmwrhynchus of 

 Kuhl, — Kitta of M. Lesson. It is the satin-bird of the co- 

 lonists of Port Jackson, a solitary, fearful creature, which 

 seldom leaves the cover of the umbrageous woods. The 

 Australian natives call it cowry. 



In Bethylus, Cuv., the bill is thick, short, Dulged, 

 slightly compressed towards the end. Its type is the mag- 

 pie-shrike of Latham, L. picatus, an inhabitant of Guiana 

 and Brazil. Plate CCCXC. fig. 2. In Faixunculus the 

 bill is much compressed, almost as high as long, the cul- 

 men arched. It contains the Lanius frontatus of New 

 Holland. The genus Pardalotus (which M. Lesson 

 places with the tit-mice, and Mr Swainson with the mana- 

 kins) is likewise constituted by a New Holland species, 

 the Pipra punctata of Shaw. The bill is short, obtuse, 

 convex, and slightly compressed. 



All the preceding genera of the dentirostral tribe are 

 supposed by Baron Cuvier to be more or less allied to 

 Lanius of Linnaeus. A great diversity of opinion, how- 

 ever, exists regarding their natural distribution ; and in 

 the most recent systems they will be found differently 



1 For more minute details, the student may consult Mr Swainson's 

 Shrikes," Zoological Journal, No. iii. p. 2iJ9. 



Inquiry into the Natural Affinities of the Laniadae or 



* illuttrationi of British OrniOtology, vol. i. p. 149. 



3 See Zool. Journal, No. vii. p. 354, and No. viii. p. 483. 



