Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index Artamidae Dusky Woodswallow. Scientific Classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Passeriformes Family: Artamidae Subfamilies  Artaminae  Cracticinae The family Artamidae gathers together 20 species of mostly crow-like birds native to Australasia and nearby areas. There are two subfamilies: Artaminae, the woodswallows, are somber-coloured, soft-plumaged birds that have a brush-tipped tongue but seldom use it for gathering nectar. Instead, they catch insects on the wing. They are agile flyers with large, pointed wings and are among the very few passerinee birds that soar. One sedentary specias aside, they are nomads, following the best conditions for flying insects, and often roosting in large flocks The cracticids—currawongs, Magpie, and butcherbirds, subfamily Cracticinae—are more obviously members of the broader corvid group. They have large, straight bills and mostly black, white or grey plumage. All are omnivorous to some degree: the butcherbirds mostly eat meat, Magpies usually forage through short grass looking for worms and other small creatures, currawongs are true omnivores, taking fruit, grain, meat, insects, eggs and nestlings. The cracticids, despite their fairly plain, utilitarian appearance, are highly intellgent and have extrardinarily beautiful songs of great subtlety. Particularly noteworthy are the Pied Butcherbird, the Pied Currawong and the Australian Magpie. ORDER PASSERIFORMES (many other families) Family Artamidae Subfamily Artaminae Ashy Woodswallow, Artamus fuscus Fiji Woodswallow, Artamus mentalis White-backed Woodswallow, Artamus monachus Great Woodswallow, Artamus maximus White-breasted Woodswallow, Artamus leucorynchus Bismarck Woodswallow, Artamus insignis Masked Woodswallow, Artamus personatus White-browed Woodswallow, Artamus superciliosus Black-faced Woodswallow, Artamus cinereus Dusky Woodswallow, Artamus cyanopterus Little Woodswallow, Artamus minor Subfamily Cracticinae: Mountain Peltops, Peltops montanus Lowland Peltops, Peltops blainvillii Black Butcherbird, Cracticus quoyi Grey Butcherbird, Cracticus torquatus Hooded Butcherbird, Cracticus cassicus Tagula Butcherbird, Cracticus louisiadensis Black-backed Butcherbird, Cracticus mentalis Pied Butcherbird, Cracticus nigrogularis Pied Currawong, Strepera graculina Black Currawong, Strepera fuliginosa Grey Currawong, Strepera versicolor Australian Magpie, Gymnorhina tibicen This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.