Laniidae. It breeds in southeastern Europe and at the eastern end of the
Mediterranean, with a separate population in eastern Iraq and western
Iran, and winters mainly in northeast Africa. It is the smallest member
of its genus, long-tailed and with a hooked bill. The male has mainly
black upperparts, with white on its crown, forehead and supercilium and
large white patches on the shoulders and wings. The throat, neck sides
and underparts are white, with orange flanks and breast. The female is a
duller version of the male, with brownish black upperparts and a grey or
buff tone to the shoulders and underparts. The species' calls are short
and grating, but the song has melodic warbler-like components. The
masked shrike eats mainly large insects and occasionally small
vertebrates; it sometimes impales its prey on thorns or barbed wire.
Decreasing in parts of the European range, but not rapidly enough to
raise serious conservation concerns, it is classified by the
International Union for Conservation of Nature as a species of least
concern.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masked_shrike>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1710:
The Statute of Anne, the first fully-fledged law regulating
copyright, entered into force in Great Britain.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statute_of_Anne>
1816:
President James Madison signed the charter establishing the
Second Bank of the United States as the nation's second national bank.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Bank_of_the_United_States>
1925:
The novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald was first
published.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Gatsby>
1970:
In the midst of business disagreements with his bandmates, Paul
McCartney announced his departure from The Beatles.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_McCartney>
2010:
A Tupolev Tu-154M aircraft carrying President of Poland Lech
Kaczyński and other Polish officials crashed while attempting to land
in heavy fog at Smolensk-North air base near Smolensk, Russia, killing
all 96 on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Polish_Air_Force_Tu-154_crash>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
incorrigible:
1. Defective and impossible to materially correct or set aright.
2. Incurably depraved; not reformable.
3. Impervious to correction by punishment or pain.
4. Unmanageable.
5. Determined, unalterable, hence impossible to improve upon.
6. (archaic) Incurable.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/incorrigible>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We may fight against what is wrong, but if we allow ourselves to
hate, that is to insure our spiritual defeat and our likeness to what we
hate.
--Æ
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_William_Russell>
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