12 CORVID.E. 



Strepera melanoptera. 



BLAPK-WINGED CROW-SHRIKE. 

 Strepera melanoplera, Gould, Proc. Zoo!. See, 1846, p. 20 ; Sharpe, Cat. JJds. Biit. Mu.s., Vol. III., 



p. 61 (1877). 

 Strepera intermedia, Shai-pe, Cat. iJds. IJiit. ^lus., Vol. III., p. .I'J (1S77). 



Adi'LT m.\le — General colour above and hnloiv bruiviiish black, slightly lighter on the under 

 parts: face blackish; primaries and secondaries broivnish-black, narrorcly and indistinctly edged 

 with brown at the lips ; tail {fathers broionish-blach, largely tipped ivith white which increases in 

 extent towards the outermost feathers ; under tail-coverts, pure white ; bill and legs, black ; iris yelloiv. 

 Total length I'-i inches, iving ll\', tail !J'3, bill 2-H.'>, tarsus 2'6. 



Adult fkm.\le — Similar to the male in plumage, but slightly smaller. 



Distribution — South Australia, Kangaroo Island. 



^(s^ ONSIUERABLE difference of opinion has for a long time existed as to the validity of 



V ik. the present species. Gould, who originally described it in the I'roceedings of the 



Zoological Society in 1846, places it in his '.' Handbook to the Birds of Australia"'-- as a synonym 

 of the preceding species, S atguta, and on which he makes the following remarks : — " Upon 

 a careful e.xamination of the numerous specimens of this bird contained in my collection, I find 

 among them two \-ery singular varieties; one with tlie base of the primaries of a nearly uniform 

 black, and the tips white, and another in which the base of the primaries is white and the tips 

 black. It is evident, therefore, that the markings of this species are not constant, and this 

 induces me to believe that the bird I characterized as .,9. inelaiioffeya is nothing more than one 

 of the varieties above mentioned. I do not, however, venture to affirm that the birds received 

 from South .Vustralia, with wholly black wings, may not prove to be distinct from those from 

 Tasmania ; this is a matter for investigation by future Australian naturalists. For the present 

 I sink the appellation mcLinoptera into a synonym." 



In the " Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum," Dr. Sharpe makes the following 

 observations after his description of J. melanoptera I : — "This species has been united by Mr. G. 

 R. Gray, and even by Mr. Gould himself, to S arguta. I have examined most carefully the 

 series mentioned by the latter gentleman in his ' Handbook,' and I cannot see any variation in 

 the amount of white in the wing of .S. arguta, and I believe that the last named species is the 

 Tasmanian Hill-Crow, and that its place on the continent is occupied by 5. melanoptera." Also 

 after his description of 5'. fl^'^H^d Dr. Sharpe makes the following remarks |: — "If we consider 

 the big Strepera arguta of Van Diemen's Land to be the typical species of the group of the genus 

 Strepera, we find three very closely allied species, whose e.xact relations time and a larger series 

 of specimens are necessary' to determine. I have separated the smaller form from Port Lincoln 

 as Strepera intermedia, as well as the South Australian 6'. melanoptera ; but whether these grade 

 into one another, or into ^. arguta, must be proved by the comparison of a larger series ; they 

 seem to me at least to have distinct habitats." 



I agree with Dr. Sharpe that the specific characters of adult examples of 5. arguta, of 

 Tasmania, are constant, and it may be readily distinguished by its average larger measurements, 

 the very distinct darker edges to the feathers of the upper parts, and the pure white bases to the 

 inner webs of the primaries. 



To clear up the uncertainty that has existed so long as regards the validity of the continental 

 form originally separated by Gould under the name of 5. melanoptera, and yet another more 



* Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. i., p. 172 (1865). 

 t Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus , Vol. iii., p. 61 (1877). 



♦ id., p. 59. 



