34 ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. 
_(36.) By comparing the family of the thrushes with 
that of the shrikes, we shall see with what beautiful re- 
gularity nature has proceeded in typifying one in the 
other; each contains five divisions, or subfamilies, — 
mutually represented in the following manner :— 
Subfamilies of Subfamilies of 7 
LANIADR. Analogies. MERULIDE. 
Laniane. Bill gradually arched. Meruline. 
Thamnophiline. Bill straight, abruptly hooked. Myotherine. 
Dicrurine. Feet short ; hind toe lengthened. Brachypodine. 
Re Mouth smooth ; rump feathers thick aie 
Ceblepyring. subspinous, or rigid. az Orioline. 
: Tail very broad; mouth bristled ; hip 
Tyrannine, § live in the vicinity of water. 7 Crateropodine . 
The first analogy of this table, or that between the 
true shrikes (Laniane) and the typical thrushes (Meru- 
line), at first sight appears not only remote, but even 
questionable: it is, nevertheless, one of the most extra- 
ordinary and most beautiful throughout creation. Let 
us take a typical example of each group, and compare 
their form, colour, habits, and economy, as described by 
authors who have given us their unbiassed testimony, 
totally ignorant of the use we should make of it. One 
of these birds is the Lanius Carolinensis of Wilson, the 
other the American mock-bird ( Orpheus Polyglottus Sw.). 
The words in Jtalics alone denote their respective 
differences. 
LANIUS CAROLINENSIS Wilson. ORPHEUS POLYGLOTTUS Sw. 
Loggerheaded Shrike. American Mocking-bird. 
Bill arched from the base, short; Bill arched from the base, longer ; - 
mouth bearded. mouth bearded. 
Colour above grey, beneath white; Colour above grey, beneath white ; 
ears black ; wings obliquely rounded, wings obliquely rounded ; wings and 
black, the quills with a white band tail of the same structure and colour 
at their base ; tail black, graduated, as those of Lanius Carolinensis. 
tipt with white. 
** Makes its nest in a detached 
bush inthe manner of the mocking- 
birds.’ — Wilson, American Ornitho- 
logy, vol. iii. p. 57. 
Feeds on crickets and grasshop- ‘ Feeds upon winged insects, 
pers. — Wilson, p. 57, fruits, and grasshoppers. — Welson. 
The cinereous and_ red-backed The mocking-bird is well known 
shrikes imitate the notes of other to imitate the notes of all others. 
birds. — Lutham, General History, 
vol. ii. p. 12. 
