BY ALFRED J. NORTH. 57 



informs me that he usually met with this species in low-lying 

 lands, searching for insects among the fallen leaves in open parts 

 of the scrub. It is somewhat remarkable that during a period of 

 eleven months' collecting in that part of Queensland in 1888-9 he 

 never saw two Rufous Crow-Shrikes in company; it was alwa3^s 

 one Rufous and one Black CrOw-Shrike. I have now two birds 

 before me shot while feeding together in the scrub opposite 

 Double Island. One is C. rufescens, the other is C. quoyi, and 

 both are sexed as males, Mr. J. A. Boyd, who has resided 

 fifteen years on the Herbert River, sent me two eggs of the 

 former species, taken on the 26th of October from a nest on 

 which the female was sitting, together with the following note : — 

 " Yesterday a black gin brought me a pair of most peculiar eggs 

 belonging to a species of Cracticus, which the natives call "Kulgo" 

 from its note. The male is a very noisy black bird about the 

 size of Eudynamis, the female brown. There is a great diffei'ence 

 between the eggs, though in both the ground colour is very pale 

 green. One is pyriform, with a lot of dark chocolate blotches on 

 the larger end, and a band of green around the middle; the other 

 is oval in form, a few ink-like marks taking the place of the 

 blotches on the larger end, and the band around the middle is 

 absent. The nest, which was built between the trunk and a 

 couple of branches of a small tree overhanging Ripple Creek, was 

 a simple construction of twigs without lining, and showing day- 

 light all through. Both eggs are heavily incubated, and one is 

 broken in two places by the gin's teeth, as she brought them down 

 from the nest in her mouth." The eggs forwarded by Mr. Boyd 

 are as described l)y him, and are only distinguishable from those 

 of C. quoyi by being slightly larger, of a paler green ground 

 colour, and rather more conspicuously marked. The narrow 

 green band around the centre of one egg is purely an accidental 

 marking; I have seen similar bands on the eggs of other species. 

 Length (A) 145 x 1-05 inch; (B) 1-43 x 1-03 inch. 



In a subsequent letter, Mr. Boyd writes: — "Why this Cracticus 

 is called riifesceus, I do not know; certainly the female is reddish- 

 brown, but the male is jet black." Owing to these birds being 



