172 HOODED SHRIKE. 



a list of the Birds of Andalusia, published by Dr. (Don 

 Antonio) Machado, in 1854, no mention is made of this 

 bird. The omission, however, loses much of its signi- 

 ficance by not being noticed. M. Temminck remarks 

 further that his specimens from Andalusia do not differ 

 from those of Senegal. But Schlegel, writing in 1844, 

 observes that the specimens killed in Spain and at the 

 Cape of Good Hope are the same, while they differ 

 both in size and colour from those brought from Senegal. 

 This is also confirmed by Degland. But the Spanish 

 specimens alluded to in both these instances were those 

 procured from the south of Spain. There seems however 

 to be two races or permanent varieties of this species, 

 one inhabiting Senegal, and the other Abyssinia and the 

 Cape of Good Hope, and found accidentally in Spain 

 and France. 



The best account of this bird is given by Lc Vaillant, 

 in his "Histoire des Oiseaux d'Afriquc," from which I 

 extract the following: — 



The feebleness of the wings of this Shrike prevents 

 it from hunting on the wing, and it therefore contents 

 itself with seeking under shrubs and among low plants 

 caterpillars, spiders, and insects, which cannot escape 

 from it by flight, as moths and grasshoppers do. This 

 is another example of the manner in which Nature has 

 adapted the forms of animals to their habits. The 

 Ostrich, Cassowary, and other large birds, designed only 

 to live upon the earth, have wings, but are unprovided 

 with feathers fit to sustain them in the air, while their 

 strong and massive feet fit them for the long journeys they 

 are obliged to take. In the same manner the Mandiots, 

 (Grebes,) which are formed to inhabit the water, have 

 not only rudimentary wings, but their feet are placed 

 so far back, that thev cannot walk the slightest distance 



