Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index Shrikes Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Passeriformes Family: Laniidae Genera Lanius Eurocephalus Corvinella A shrike is a passerine bird 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 thornss. A typical shrike's beak is hooked, like a bird of prey, reflecting its predatory nature. Numerous species of shrike are present on all continents except South America and Australia. Shrikes are also known as "butcher birds" because of their habit of keeping a "larder" of corpses. (Note that the butcherbirds of Australasia are not shrikes, although they occupy a similar ecological niche.) Species are Family: Lanidae Great Grey Shrike or Northern Shrike Lanius excubitor Southern Grey Shrike Lanius meridionalis Lesser Grey Shrike Lanius minor Red-backed Shrike Lanius collurio Isabelline Shrike Lanius isabellinus Woodchat Shrike Lanius senator Masked Shrike Lanius nubicus Long-tailed Shrike Lanius schach Loggerhead Shrike Lanius ludovicianus Tiger Shrike, Lanius tigrinus Bull-headed Shrike, Lanius bucephalus Brown Shrike, Lanius cristatus Burmese Shrike, Lanius collurioides Emin's Shrike, Lanius gubernator Souza's Shrike, Lanius souzae Bay-backed Shrike, Lanius vittatus Grey-backed Shrike Lanius tephronotus Gray-capped Shrike, Lanius validirostris Loggerhead Shrike, Lanius ludovicianus Chinese Gray Shrike, Lanius sphenocercus Gray-backed Fiscal, Lanius excubitoroides Long-tailed Fiscal, Lanius cabanisi Taita Fiscal, Lanius dorsalis Somali Fiscal, Lanius somalicus Mackinnon's Shrike, Lanius mackinnoni Common Fiscal, Lanius collaris Newton's Fiscal, Lanius newtoni Yellow-billed Shrike, Corvinella corvina Magpie Shrike, Corvinella melanoleuca White-rumped Shrike, Eurocephalus rueppelli White-crowned Shrike Eurocephalus anguitimens Other species called shrikes are in the families: Campephagidae, cuckoo-shrikes Prionopidae, helmet shrikes Malaconotidae, puffback shrikes, bush shrikes, tchagras and boubous The latter two groups were previously included in Lanidae, but the cuckoo-shrikes are not related. Some models of the Rockwell Commander aircraft were subnamed Shrike. The Shrike is a monster in the Hyperion series of science fiction books by Dan Simmons. It is known for impaling people on a thorn bush. The AGM-45 Shrike is a HARM developed at the US Naval Weapons Center from 1958 and manufactured by Texas Instruments and Sperry Rand from 1963. It was used by the military of the USA and Israel. It had a number of flaws and was replaced by the AGM-88 HARM. Production was stopped in 1982 and the US withdrew the missile in 1992. Around 18,500 were built. Shrike is the product codename for the version 9 of Red Hat's distribution of the Linux operating system. Shrike is a character in Nathanael West's novella Miss Lonelyhearts. This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.