238 LARGE GREY-HEADED BUSH-SHRIKE. 
upon their prey and seize it in their talons. These 
habits, observed by Le Vaillant in other birds of 
this genus — which is exclusively African — may 
he inferred with certainty from a simple inspec- 
tion of the structure of the bird before us. The 
wings are short and rounded, indicating a most 
feeble flight, while the thickness and breadth of the 
claws, show that they are not at all formed for 
seizing or grasping any thing but the branches of 
trees; their great curvature, indeed, giving them 
an unusually firm grasp of such substances, which 
is further increased by the connexion of the inner 
toe to half the length of the outer, producing a 
great breadth to the sole of the foot. 
The size is equal to that of a blackbird ; the 
bill is black, and between that and the eye is a 
broad white stripe. A mantle of clear slate colour 
spreads over the head, ears, sides, and upper part 
of the neck, all the remaining parts above being 
greenish or yellow-olive ; each of the lesser and 
greater covers, and also the tertials and tail-feathers, 
is marked at the tip by a cream-coloured spot ; 
half of the greater quills are also edged with the 
same colour. The wings are not longer than the 
tail-covers. The under plumage, from the chin 
to the vent, is bright and pure yellow, deepest on 
the breast and paler on the belly. The tail is but 
slightly rounded; the legs pale, and the inner toe 
conspicuously shorter than the outer. 
Total length, 10 A ; bill, from the gape, 1 1 ; 
wings, 4f ; tail, from the base, 5 ; tarsus, 1 
