Identifier: reptilesbirdspo00figu (find matches)
Title: Reptiles and birds. A popular account of the various orders; with a description of the habits and economy of the most interesting.
Year: 1873 (1870s)
Authors: Figuier, Louis, 1819-1894 Gillmore, Parker
Subjects: Birds Reptiles
Publisher: New York : D. Appleton and Co.
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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8.—King Tody. to quit the neighbourhood in which the Tyrants young brood isreposing. They feed on insects, small reptiles, and sometimes onvery small fish. The King Bird of the United States (Tyi-ammsiiitrepidus) is a well-known type. But the Forked-tailed Fly-catchers(Melvulus tyrannus, Fig. 249), found in South America only, andprincipally in Brazil and Guiana, are the most attractive. The Umbrella Bird (Cephalopteriis orjiattis, Fig. 250) has someresemblance to Crows, both in size and plumage. Their name, whichin Greek signifies winged-head, is given them on account of awide crest which spreads out above their head like a parasol. Addedto this the front of the neck is bare, but the lower part is furnished,with a thick tuft of feathers, which hang down over the breast. SHRIKES. 539 These birds are natives of the forests of Brazil which margin onrivers. Little or nothing is known as to their habits. The wideshape of the bill would suggest that they feed chiefly on berries andfruit.
Text Appearing After Image:
Fig. 249.—The Forked-tail Fly-catcher. The Shrike genus concludes the Passerine order. It comprises acertain number of birds with tapering or flattened bills, more or lesshooked at the point, and deeply indented. In their quarrelsomenature, and in their partiality for flesh they resemble the Rapaciousorder. Among them are classed the Great Grey Shrike, the Red-backed Shrike, the Woodchat Shrike, the Pied Crow Shrike, andthe Piping Crow Shrike. 540 REPTILES AND BIRDS. The Shrikes proper possess the instinct of destruction in the very-highest degree. They deUght in shedding blood and in spreadingdeath wherever they go; indeed, their evil disposition has becomeproverbial. Not satisfied with killing with a view of satisfying thelawful needs of hunger, they sacrifice, as if for mere pleasure, insects,birds, and small mammals. They afterwards impale them upon thethorns of bushes and hedges. But still we must not condemn these birds with too great a degreeof severity. No doubt there is cru

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