53 
DENTIROSTRES. 
The first of the great tribes into which the 
incessorial birds are separated, the Dentirostres, 
exhibits a continuation of the notched or toothed 
form of bill, which, under its various modifications, 
is more or less adapted for seizing and lacerating 
a living and resisting prey. This is particularly 
marked in the 
LANIADiE, 
all the sub-families of which are raptorial, feed 
entirely on living prey seized by their own 
exertions, and typify, as it were, the noble and 
ignoble forms of the true rapacious birds. When 
passing from one great order of birds to another, 
we would naturally expect to find some on each 
side, to a certain extent, assimilating in their 
form and habits ; and thus, among the sub-family 
Lanianm or Shrikes, of which the British fauna 
possesses only three representatives confined to 
one genus, we perceive the lesser size and weaker 
form of the incessorial order, combined with a 
lacerating and toothed structure of the bill, and 
with raptorial or predaceous manners. The 
typical form, which is distributed in nearly equal 
