The shrikes belong to the Passerine family Laniidae, the limits of which are doubtful, but which is divided into five sub-families: Gymnorhininae, Malaconotinae, Pachycephalinae, Laniinae and Prionopinae.
Their diet is chiefly insects and small frogs, lizards, birds and mammals, but they also take seeds and fruits.
The " greenlets " of North and South America are active and fearless birds, similar in general habits to the Laniidae and formerly regarded as forming a sub-family of that group, but now placed in a separate family the Vireonidae.
A shrike is a passerinebird of the family Laniidae which is known for its habit of catching other birds and small animals and impaling the uneaten portions of their bodies on thorns, so that it can tear them into smaller, more conveniently-sized fragments.
The latter two groups were previously included in Laniidae, but the cuckoo-shrikes are not related.
This page was last modified 07:40, 16 October 2005.
All but four of the Laniidae are assigned to the genus Lanius.
In addition, the Laniidae section in the Birds of Africa series (Fry and Keith 2000) has a excellent introduction to the African species.
All of the batises, wattle-eyes, helmet shrikes, and such things as flycatcher-shrikes, wood-shrikes, and philentomas, are thrown into the latter family.
family name Laniidae, any of about 64 species of medium-sized predatory birds (order Passeriformes); in particular, any of the 25 species of the genus Lanius, constituting the subfamily of true shrikes, Laniinae.
A shrike may impale its prey on a thorn, as on a meat hook; hence another name,...
Brief information on this predatory bird of the family Laniidae.
any of three species of tropical American songbirds, characterized by a stout, slightly hooked bill (like the true shrikes, family Laniidae) but with anatomical features that ally them with the...
family name Laniidae, any of about 64 species of medium-sized predatory birds (order Passeriformes); in particular, any of the 25 species of the genus Lanius, constituting the subfamily of true...
Passerines are small to medium-sized land birds, ranging from about 7.5 to about 117 centimetres (three to 46 inches) in overall length.
