534 



PASSERIFORMES 



snicK^kig sound, others again ha\e a sweet song. The nest of 

 Pdcliyccplbala is a neat, though sometimes frail, cup of twigs, roots, 

 and grasses, often placed on horizontal boughs, and containing 

 three or four creamy or brownish eggs, with scattered or zonal 

 umber markings and a few lilac spots ; Fulctinculus usually selects 

 a gum-tree, and uses bark, grass, and cobwebs, laying two or 

 three elongated whitish eggs, with olive, black, and greyish dots 

 or lines ; those of Oreoeca are bluer. 



Sub-fam. 4. Laniinac. — The Shrikes proper extend over the 



Fig. 119. — Great Grey Shrike. Lanius excubitor. x y\. 



Palaearctic, Indian, and Ethiopian Kegions, and alone of the 

 Family occur in the Kew World, Lanius lorealis and Z. ludo- 

 virianus inhabiting N'orth America. The lax plumage is either 

 black, grey, and white, or is varied with rich red-brown. Urolestes 

 has the feathers of the crown and neck lanceolate, and those of 

 the sides long and fluffy ; Zaniellus is exceptional in being spotted. 

 The young are browner, and are often transversely barred below, a 

 fact also true of the Gymnorhininae. In the large genus Lanius 

 are included all the British Butcher-Birds, L. excubitor, L. minor, 

 L. ponievanus, L. collurio, the Great Grey, Lesser Grey, Woodchat 



