45 6 
PERCHING BIRDS. 
webs, and other soft materials closely felted together. The entrance is placed on 
the side about one-third the distance from the top, and is perfectly round with 
smoothened edges; the interior being lined with soft white feathers. The adult 
male of this tit has the upper-parts bright cinereous brown, inclining to rufous; 
the quills of the wing are light brown ; the tail is pale rufous; the sides of the head 
and nape are grey; and the throat, breast, and under-parts rufous white. 
Aired t es There are several other genera of tits, such as the Oriental 
AEgithaliscus, which comprises some small species differing from 
the true tits in the more graduated form of the tail, the longer and more copious 
feathers on the crown of the head, and the absence of a dark band on the under¬ 
parts. The yellow-browed tit (Sylviparus moclestus) of the Himalaya represents a 
second genus, distinguished from the preceding by the squared or slightly forked tail. 
In the neighbourhood of the tits Mr. Oates would place the so-called crow-tits 
{Conostoma, Paradoxornis, Suthora, etc.), which are restricted to the mountains of 
North-Eastern India and parts of China, and are referred by some ornithologists to 
the Crateropodidce. Mr. Oates writes that “ the position of these birds has been 
much disputed, but looking to the facts that they have ten primaries, that the 
young are identical in plumage with the adult, and that the nostrils are completely 
hidden by stiff bristles, their location with the crows and tits seems the proper 
course to adopt.” Those species of which the nesting is known, build cup-shaped 
nests in trees, and lay eggs marked with yellowish brown and purple. 
The Shrikes. 
Family LaniiDjE. 
A somewhat variable group, including such different forms as the gay-coloured 
minivets, the cuckoo-shrikes, the crested jay-shrikes, the plainer wood-shrikes, and 
the Indian pied shrikes, the members of this family have the edges of both 
mandibles either smooth, or the upper one simply notched or toothed, or both 
together; the hinder surface of the metatarsus is smooth and covered with two 
longitudinal plates; the wing has ten primaries; the tongue is of ordinary form; 
the nostrils are clear of the line of the forehead, and more or less overhung with 
bristles; and there are twelve tail-feathers. The plumage of the nestling is cross- 
barred, and there appears to be only an autumnal moult. The family comprises a 
large number of genera, and, with the exception of South America, has a cosmo¬ 
politan distribution, although most numerous in Africa. 
The shrike Tits The s P ec ^ es composing the genus Falcunculus have been de¬ 
scribed as uniting the form of a shrike with the habits of a wood¬ 
pecker; they possess a strong toothed bill, with which they are able to tear off 
pieces of rotten wood, and even the bark of gum-trees in search of food, and they 
have a crest of feathers. Inhabiting the larger branches of trees, and resembling 
the tits in many of their habits, when attacked by an enemy they defend 
themselves with ferocity. All being exclusively Australian, the white - bellied 
shrike-tit (F. leucogaster) is a native of Western Australia, while the frontal shrike- 
tit (F. frontatus ) inhabits South Australia and New South Wales. 
