185. 
336 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PASSERES — OSCINES. 
bands and edgings, though evident, sarrow and whitish ; no decided olive or yellow anywhere. 
Size of belli ; wing and tail of equal lengths, little over 2.00; bill 0.33; tarsus 0.66; middle 
toe and claw 0.50; spurious quill about + as long as the 2d, which is intermediate between the 
7th and Sth. A small, obscure-looking Y 
species, resembling belli, but much grayer, ee 
tail relatively longer, spurious quill longer, = \ - —<—F 
and 2d primary shorter. Arizona and a TF 
Southern California, common. A y\ —— 
V. atricapil'lus. (Lat. ater, black ; capil- A SL a 
lus, hair.) BLAcK-CAPPED GREENLET. a ( 
g@: Top and side of the head black, ex- Fic. 201. — VF. pusillus, nat. size. (From Baird.: 
cepting a white eye-ring and white loral stripe. Upper parts olivaceous ; lower parts white, 
tinged with pale greenish on the sides and flanks. Wings and tail blackish, edged with 
olivaceous, the former with two dingy whitish bars across the ends of the greater and median 
coverts; lining of wings yellowish. Bill black; feet dark; iris red. Length 4.75: extent 
7.25; wing 2.25: tail nearly 2.00; bill 0.50; tarsus 0.75; middle toe and claw 0.50; 1st 
primary exposed 0.66. A specimen from Mazatlan, supposed to be a Q, is described by Baird 
and Ridgway as having the black of the head replaced by dark slate color, the upper parts 
duller olive, the lower somewhat buffy. The black cap of the ¢ renders the species con- 
spicnous among all its congeners. Texas and Mexico, rare; few specimens known. Nest in 
trees, pensile from a forked twig as usual in the genus, but eggs white, unmarked (as far as 
Known; 15 examples examined) ; size 0.65-0.75 X 0.50-0.55. 
15. Family LANIIDA: Shrikes. 
Essentially characterized by the combination of 
comparatively weak, strictly passerine feet with a 
notched, toothed and hooked bill, the size, shape, and 
strength of which recalls that of a bird of prey (fig. 
202.). The family comprises about 200 recorded 
species, referable to numerous genera and divisible 
into three groups, not very well defined, however, of 
=, which the following typical subfamily is the only 
Sen =2™~ one oceurring in America: — 
Fic. 202.— Shrikes’ Bills, nat.size. (From Baird.) 
21. Subfamily LANIINAE: True Shrikes. 
In this group the wing has 10 primaries and the tail 12 rectrices ; both are much rounded 
and of nearly equal lengths. The rictus is furnished with strong bristles. The ¢ircular nostrils 
are more or less perfectly covered and con- 
cealed by dense tufts of antrorse bristly 
feathers. The tarsi are scutellate in front 
and on the outside—in the latter respect 
deviating from a usual Oscine character. 
Our shrikes will thus be easily distinguished ; 
additional features are given under head of 
the genus Lanius, the only representative ‘ 
of this group in America. Fie. 203. — Butcher-bird, reduced. (From Tenney, 
These shrikes are bold and spirited after Wilson.) 
birds, quarrelsome among themselves, and tyrannical toward weaker species; in fact, their 
nature seems as highly rapacious as that of the true birds of prey. They are carnivorous, 
