306 JOCOSE SHRIKE. 



great ones, as Crows, Hawks, and Eagles he won't 

 suffer to come within a quarter of a mile of him 

 without attacking them. They have only a chat- 

 tering note, which they utter with great vehe- 

 mence ail the time they are fighting. When theJr 

 young are flown, they are as peaceable as other 

 birds. It has a tender bill, and feeds on insects 

 only. They are tame and harmless birds. They 

 build their nest in an open manner, on low-trees 

 and shrubs, and usually on the Sassafras-tree." 



Mr. Pennant, in his Arctic Zoology, refers this 

 bird to the genus Muscicapa or Flycatcher, in 

 which genus there are some birds whose manners 

 greatly resemble those of the present. 



JOCOSE SHRIKE. 



Lanius jocosus. L. fuscus, suhtus albidus^ capite suhcristatOy 

 macula suboculari crissoque rubris, cauda cuneata. 



Brown Shrike, whitish beneath, with slightly crested head, 

 spot beneath the eyes and vent red, and cuneated tail. 



Lanius jocosus ? L, cauda rotundata, corpore griseo, palpebra ^ 

 inferiore sanguinea, ana sanguineo, Lin, Si/st, Nat. 



Petit Merle hupe de la Chine. Buff, ois, PL Enl 508. 



Jocose Shrike. Lath. syn. 



Size of a Lark, but varying in different indivi- 

 duals: colour above brown; beneath dull white, 

 with the vent pale crimson or bright rose-colour: 

 crown of the head black, with a rising finely-fibred 

 crest in the middle : from the corners of the bill 

 on each side a black stripe; beneath each eye a 



