4 ON THE CLASSIFICATION OP BIRDS. 
groups are in no wise connected, and there is conse- 
quently no affinity between them. 
(4.) The external characters of the shrikes, in the more 
typical groups, are very decidedly marked. The biU, as in 
L. coUurio {fig. 114.), generally short and strong, is ab- 
ruptly hooked at the end, and the notch so deep as to 
form a small tooth, more or less prominent, on each side : 
this projection is analogous to the teeth of quadrupeds, so 
far as to enable the bird to take a firm grasp of its food, 
and is used to divide it into pieces : tlie claws, also, as in- 
struments of capture in the typical group, are peculiarly 
fine and sharp, — a 
character which per- 
vades, more or less, 
the whole family. 
This mode of darting 
suddenly on their 
prey (rather than 
hunting or searching 
for it) is most pre- 
valent in those groups which are nearest related to 
the flycatchers, whose general weakness, however, con- 
fines their depredations to the smaller insects ; larger 
and more powerful tribes being the food of the typical 
shrikes. 
(5.) The divisions of this family, and their scientific 
peculiarities, have been dwelt upon at some length in 
another work {NortiiKrn Zool. vol. ii. p. 105.) we shall, 
therefore, here give an abridged but more popular com- 
plexion to the subject, without detailing the reasons 
which have guided our views of their natural arrange- 
ment. The following are the five divisions or sub- 
families: — 1. The Tyrannince, or Tyrant shrikes; 2. The 
Ceblepyrinat, or Caterpillar-eaters ; 3. The Dicrurinie, 
or Drongo shrikes ; 4. The ThamnophiUna, or Bush- 
shrikes; and, 5. the Laniarue, or true Shrikes. The first 
three of these sub-families constitute the aberrant circle, 
or that in which the characters of the shrike is least 
conspicuous. The fourth is the sub-typical ; and in the 
