(1) Corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) was localized in the brains of two passerine species, the European starling (Sturnus vulgaris) and the song sparrow (Melospiza melodia), by means of immunohistochemistry.
(2) Adult trumpeters and both young and old passerines housed in the same exhibit were not affected.
(3) The low dose of reserpine in the passerine (common myna and bulbul) birds resulted in 40-84% reduction of both norepinephrine (NE) and epinephrine (E) from the adrenal glands irrespective of its nerve supply.
(4) Concentrations of mercury in passerine birds fed diets containing 40 ppm methylmercury were similar in tissues of birds that died from mercury poisoning and in those that were sacrificed after half the group had died.
(5) Paramyxovirus type 2(PMV-2) (Yucaipa-like), unreported in free-flying passerines in the Americas, was recovered from a finch, wren, and chicken, each from a different location.
(6) Song syntax, defined as orderly temporal arrangements of acoustic units within a bird song, is a conspicuous feature of the songs of many species of passerine birds.
(7) Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) was detected in the brains of passerine birds, a recently evolved and diverse avian group.
(8) In a group of birds (passerines and non-passerines) body weight was found to be highly correlated with the length of the humerus and with the area of the foramen magnum.
(9) Antibodies to Uukuniemi viruses are found in passerine birds, small mammals, cattle and man.
(10) These values resemble diagnostic levels known for two species of passerine birds, but they exceed published levels for two free-tailed bats from Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico.
(11) The results agreed with an empirical study on body weight in a passerine bird, the Great Tit, where only the asymptote displayed heritable variation and more genetic variance was expressed under good conditions.
(12) The present study determined the volume of the hippocampal complex and the telencephalon in 3 food-storing families and in 10 non-food-storing families and subfamilies of passerines.
(13) These data suggest that monoaminergic neurotransmitters may be involved in the mediation of steroid-dependent changes in singing behavior in passerine birds.
(14) These data show that, in contrast to some other species of passerine birds, the onset of photorefractoriness does not become fixed before the testes have undergone considerable development, and that the photoperiodic conditions experienced at the end of the testicular growth phase are still effective in determining the precise time of onset of photorefractoriness.
(15) Among the passerine birds, species that store food have an enlarged hippocampal region (dorso-medial cortex), relative to brain and body size, when compared with the non-storers.
(16) The left kidney of Australian passerines was significantly longer, on average, than the right.
(17) Investigation of the effect of variation in background abundance on measures of energy expenditure for small passerines (20 g) revealed that employing estimates, instead of direct measurements, had a minor influence over an experimental period of 1 day but could potentially introduce errors as large as 54% over a 2-day period.
(18) The species consisted of two passerines (songbirds), the European starling (Sturnus vulgaris) and the song sparrow (Melospiza melodia), and one galliform, the Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica).
(19) Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease, was isolated from the liver of a passerine bird, Catharus fuscescens (veery), and from larval Ixodes dammini (tick) feeding on Pheucticus ludovicianus (rose-breasted grosbeak) and Geothlypis trichas (common yellowthroat).
(20) Free-flying passerine migrants respond to natural fluctuations in the earth's magnetic field.
Shrike
Definition:
(v. i.) Any one of numerous species of oscinine birds of the family Laniidae, having a strong hooked bill, toothed at the tip. Most shrikes are insectivorous, but the common European gray shrike (Lanius excubitor), the great northern shrike (L. borealis), and several others, kill mice, small birds, etc., and often impale them on thorns, and are, on that account called also butcher birds. See under Butcher.
Example Sentences:
(1) Oh yes, and when it all gets on top of you, you can always calm yourself with Whitehorn's words on puddings: 'In the play The Shrike, the hero is entertaining his girl to dinner and she says: "What's for dessert?"
(2) Isolations of eastern equine encephalomyelitis virus were made from the heart of a loggerhead shrike (Lanius excubitor), Tensaw virus from the brain of a gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus), and Keystone virus from the heart of a bluejay (Cyanocitta cristata).