WHITE-PLUMED SHRIKE. 247 
many other distinctions, it differs in the great length 
and expansion of its wings. This is one of the 
most certain indications of the type in question; 
and we find that the longest winged birds are the 
swallows, the terns, and the frigate-pelicans. An- 
other singular feature in the bird before us is the 
bristles at the corner of the mouth, and the stiff 
feathers which advance forward and defend both the 
front of the head and the hase of the hill. There 
must be something very peculiar in the economy of 
the bird to require such a defence, for nature has 
repeated it in the Dasycepkalas and several other 
fissirostral types of the perchers. How much is it 
to be regretted) that while we are perpetually receiv- 
ing numerous specimens* of such birds as these 
from their native regions, they should be unaccom- 
panied by the slightest intimation of their habits or 
manners. 
Le Vaillant, who described this singular bird 
from a stuffed specimen in one of the French 
museums, conjectures that it lives upon the ground 
and picks up worms in the same manner as our 
starlings. The structure • of the feet, however, 
(never attended to in those days) is entirely against 
this theory; they are obviously adapted for the 
sole purpose of grasping, but with unusual tenacity, 
the branches of trees. The soles, as in all such 
birds, are small, the claws very broad, but un- 
* Tlie Editors of Griffith's Animal Kingdom speak of this 
as an excessively rare species, and lament the departure of 
M. Bullock’s specimen ! whereas it is one of the most com- 
mon and well known birds of Western Africa. 
