CLASS II. AYES: ORDER 2. PASSERES. 
113 
THE GREAT BUTCHER-BIKD. 
DEMTIROSTRES. 
The leading characteristic of this group consists in the presence of a distinct notch on each 
side of the extremity of the upper mandible, Avliich is also usually more or less hooked. The 
tarsi are generally slender, and covered with broad scales, as are also the toes, which are usually 
long, and frequently armed with curved and acute claws. The outer toe is always more or less 
united with the middle one, and this is also the case in some instances with the inner toe. These 
birds are amongst the most predaceous of the passerinse : the nourishment of the greater pro- 
portion consists principally of insects ; some of them, however, capture and devour small verte- 
brated animals. Berries and fruits likewise constitute a part of their food, but they appear very 
rarely to eat seeds. They are all furnished with the singing apparatus at the lower larynx, and 
it is to these birds that our sweetest and most celebrated songsters belong. The divisions of this 
entire group are as follows : the Laniid^, including the Shrikes ; the Ampblid^, including 
the Pijorince or ManaJcins, Drongo Shrikes, and Campejjhac/ince or Caterpillar-Eaters^ Gyrnno- 
derince or Fruit-CroiDS, Umbrella- Bird, Bell-Bird, Chatterers, and Cotingas ; the Muscicapid^, 
including the Fly-Catchers, Tityrince or Becards, Tyrant Fly- Catchers, Alectrurince or Cock-Tails ; 
tlie TuBDiD^ or Merulid^, including the Bulbuls, Orioles, Babblers, True Thrioshes, Ant- 
Thrushes, wa^ Ouzels; the Warblers, including the Wagtails, Pipits or Titlarks, Bush-Creepers, 
Titmice, Robins, Wheat-Far s. Redbreasts, Shamas, Indian Robin, and Bluebird; the True Warb- 
lers, including the Nightingales, Tailor-Birds, &c. 
P THE LAmiD^ OE SHKIKES. 
In this first family, the bill is elongated, strong, straight, and compressed, Avith the tip of the 
upper mandible more or less hooked, and armed on each side with a tooth ; the base of the bill 
is usually as high as broad, and the gape is furnished with bristles, of which about five spring 
from each side of the base of the upper mandible. The wings are of moderate size ; the tail is 
long and rounded ; the tarsi are stout, usually elongated ; the hind toe long, broadly padded be- 
neath, and the claw^s are long, curved, and very acute. The strong hooked bill and curved claws 
of these birds give them a very well-marked resemblance to the raptorial birds, and the similarity 
is almost equally striking in the habits of many of the species. They not only prey upon the 
insects, worms and niollusca, which constitute the principal part of the animal food of the passer- 
ine birds, but also frequently attack and destroy small birds and quadrupeds. This resemblance 
led Cuvier to place the shrikes at the head of the passeres, close to the raptorial birds ; and Lin- 
VoL. IL— 15 
