LANIIUAE 531 



long, pointed, and slightly curved, with wide gape. The meta- 

 tarsi are short and strong ; the wings are much elongated ; the 

 tail is short and occasionally emarginate, with soft, exserted 

 shafts to the rectrices in Psenduchelidvn, which is glossy greenish- 

 black with red beak and feet. Arf(cmus, where powder-down 

 patches occur on the sides, thighs, and lower back, exhibits black, 

 brown, rufous, or grey tints, relieved by white — especially below, or 

 towards the tip of the tail ; the bill is blue with black extremity, 

 the feet are greyish. The sexes hardly differ. 



These woodland birds often float nSarly motionless in the air, 

 occasionally moving ahead with a few strokes of the wing ; at other 

 times they wheel and twist aboiit like Swifts. They hawk for insects, 

 or sally after them from their perches, feeding also upon the ground, 

 on the larvae and on seeds. Congregating like Swallows, they have 

 in Australia a curious habit of hanging in ball-like masses from 

 the branches ; the note is plaintive or chirping. The nests, often 

 found in close proximity, are placed in forks of trees, on their side- 

 shoots, in holes, behind loose bark, in deserted habitations of other 

 birds, or in bushes ; the outer materials being twigs and grass, 

 those of the lining fibres and feathers. From two to four white, 

 greenish, or flesh-coloured eggs are deposited, spotted and streaked 

 with umber, red-brown, grey, lilac, or occasionally black. 



Fam. XVI. Laniidae. — Few Families are more difficult to 

 define than this. A typical Shrike is easily recognised ; but such 

 forms as Fac/ii/ci-pJuda and Jfe/nipi/s are closely connected with 

 the Musciraindae ; C'cdiccdints and Keolestes with the Pycnonotidae ; 

 Gymnorhina and its allies with the Corridai' ; while some authors 

 include the Gampejjhagidae. Dr. Gadow ^ recognises five Sub- 

 families : (1) Gymnorhininae, (2) Malaconofinae, (3) Fachycepha- 

 linae, (4) Lroiiinae, and (5) Vireoninae ; but the last-named is here 

 allowed Family rank, while I'Tuniupinne is admitted in its place. 



The bill is stout, notched, and often strongly hooked, while 

 it is either curved or straight ; in Falcunculus it. is more than 

 usually compressed, in Bhectes the maxilla has the edge finely 

 serrated, in Xenopirostris the mandible is upcurved, leaving a 

 distinct gap above it. In the GymnorMninae the culmen is 

 long, straight, and slightly rounded, with slit-like nostrils near 



^ Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. viii. 1883, p. 89. The Gym»orMninae belong to the group 

 Austro-coraccs or Knto-coracomorphae, if such be admitted ; i.e. to the apparently 

 generalized formswhence the CorOTrf«c(p. .'i.')7)and perhap.s iheZaniidae, have sprung 



