LANIIN^. 
LANIUS, 
157 
Bristles rather strong. Wings and tail various. Roof of 
upper mandible narrow, with a median ridge ; tongue slen- 
der, concave above, horny toward the end, with the mar- 
gins lacerated, and the tip slit ; oesophagus wide, uniform ; 
proventriculus elliptical; stomach broadly elliptical or roun- 
dish ; its muscular coat thin, the epithelium dense and lon- 
gitudinally rugous ; intestine of moderate length ; coeca very 
small ; cloaca oblong or globular. Trachea simple ; four 
pairs of inferior laryngeal muscles. 
GENUS 1. LANIUS, Linn. SHRIKE, or BUTCHER-BIRD. 
Bill of moderate length, strong, compressed ; upper man- 
dible with the dorsal line a little arched, towards the end 
decurved, the sides convex, the edges direct, with a large 
prominence succeeded by a deep notch, the tip decurved 
and acute ; lower mandible with the angle short and wide, 
the dorsal line convex, the sides convex, the edges inflected, 
the tip ascending, acute. Nostrils basal, lateral, oval, con- 
cealed by the bristly feathers. Head large, broadly ovate ; 
neck short; body robust. Tarsus rather short, compressed, 
slender, with eight scutella ; toes small, the first stout, the 
lateral nearly equal. Claws rather large, arched, com- 
pressed, extremely acute. Plumage soft and blended. 
Bristles stiff. Wings of ordinary length, first quill very 
short, fourth longest. Tail long, graduated, or rounded. 
236. 1. Lanius borealis, Vieill. Great American Shrike. 
Plate CXCII. Male and Female. 
Fourth quill longest, third little shorter, second shorter than sixth, 
first half the length of second ; tail long, graduated ; bill brownish- 
black at the end, paler towards the base ; upper parts light ash-grey, 
the ends of the scapulars and the upper tail-coverts greyish- white ; a 
streak of whitish over the eye ; loral space and a patch behind the eye 
brownish-black ; first row of smaller wing-coverts, larger coverts, and 
quills, brownish-black ; secondary quills and coverts edged and tipped 
