132 AVES. 



The proportional length of their wings, and their power of flight 

 are as various as their habits. 



Our first division is founded upon the feet; we then have recourse 

 to the beak. 



The first and most numerous comprehends those genera in which 

 the external toe is united to its felfow by one or two phalanges only. 



FAMILY I. 



DENTIROSTRES. 



In this family the beak is emarginate on the sides of the point. 

 It is in this family that we find the greatest number of insectivorous 

 birds, though almost all of them likewise feed on berries and other 

 soft fruits. In the Shrikes, or 



Lanius, Lin. 



The beak is conical or compressed, and more or less hooked at the point. 



Shrikes live in families, and fly in'egulaxiy and precipitately, uttering^ 

 shrill cries; they build on trees, lay five or six eggs, and take gi-eat care of 

 their young. They have a habit of imitating, on the spot, a part of the songs 

 of such birds as live in then- vicinity. The upper pai't of the females and of 

 the young is marked with fine transverse Hnes. 



Lan. coUurio, Gm. (The Butcher Bu-d.) Top of the head and rump ash 

 coloured; back and wings fawn coloured; whitish above; a black band over 

 the eye; wing-qmlls black edged with fawn colour, those of the tail black, 

 the lateral ones white at base. It destroys smaU 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 subdivisions of this genus are Vanga, OcypteruSt Barita, 8tc., differ- 

 ing chiefly in the arrangement of the beak. 



MusciCAPA, Lin. 



The Fly-Catchers have a horizontally depressed beak, furnished with hairs 

 at its base, and the point more or less hooked and emarginated. Their 

 general habits are those of the Shi'ikes, and they live on small Birds or In- 

 sects, according to their size. The weakest of them gradually approach the 

 form of the Wagtails. 



This genus is now divided into various subgenera, such as Tyrannus, 

 Muscipeta, Muscicapa, Gymnocephalus, &c. The species are very numerous. 



Ampelis, Lin. 

 The Crown-Birds have tlie depressed beak of the Flycatchers, but it is 

 somewhat shorter m proportion, tolerably broad and shghtJy arcuated. 



