Family XIX. LANIINAE. SHRIKES.

Bill short, of moderate length, stout, broader than high at the base, compressed toward the end; the gap-line slightly arched, the ridge narrow, the notch and dentiform process large, the tip narrow and decurved. Head large, roundish, ovate; neck short; body compact. Legs of moderate length; tarsus compressed, with seven anterior scutella; toes moderate, compressed; hind toe rather stout, lateral about equal, the outer adherent at the base. Claws arched, compressed, acute. Plumage soft and blended. Bristles rather strong. Wings and tail various. Roof of upper mandible narrow, with a median ridge; tongue slender, concave above, horny toward the end, with the margins lacerated, and the tip slit; oesophagus wide, uniform; proventriculus elliptical; stomach broadly elliptical or roundish; its muscular coat thin, the epithelium dense and longitudinally rugous; intestine of moderate length; coeca very small; cloaca oblong or globular. Trachea simple; four pairs of inferior laryngeal muscles.