to the tree canopy often. It holds large prey down with its foot while eating. Like other bushshrikes (and true shrikes, Laniidae), the tropical boubou impales prey on thorns to eat later; it also wedges prey into crevices. The food includes many kinds of large terrestrial invertebrates and their larvae as well as small terrestrial vertebrates, e.g. amphibians, beetles, geckos, lizards, Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies), mantises, Orthoptera (crickets, grasshoppers and locusts), rodents, snakes and termites. It often plunders other birds' nests and occasionally eats snails and fruit. Reproduction This species is monogamous. The tropical boubou, like many tropical birds, does not have a pronounced breeding season. Around the Equator, birds may breed at any time in the year. Further north and south, there is a peak breeding season in late spring and early summer at the start of the wet season, and little to no breeding takes place during late autumn and early winter at the start of the dry season. Courtship starts with the male chasing the female, the two hopping together through branches, and the male bobbing its head, bowing and giving a croaking call or low whistle. It makes gliding or descending display flights with the white rump spots exposed and producing mechanical noises with its remiges. The courtship climaxes with the male – wings drooped, tail fanned and rump feathers puffed up – giving repeated metallic or whistling calls. The couples may duet, but courtship feeding has not been observed. The flimsy cup nest is built by both parents, but the female does more of the work. It consists of twigs, tendrils, small roots and the occasional grass leaf or bark piece, held together with spider web and sometimes lined with finer fibres; the walls are thick – more than one to more than 5 cm – but loosely constructed and the eggs can often be seen from the outside. The nest measures 10 to 20 cm in diameter, with a shallow nest cup around 8 cm in diameter and 2–5 cm deep. It is placed at varying heights, from a few dozen cm above ground in a thicket to more than a dozen meters up in a tree top; typically, however, it is built around 3 m in a bush, a horizontal branch fork, or in vines. Nesting sites are often solitary bushes, which provide cover while allowing the incubating bird to observe the surrounding