STREPERA. 1^ 



recently described by Dr. Sharpe, I have now before ine a large series of these birds gathered 

 together from widely separated localities in South Australia ; our own collection bein^ supple- 

 mented by examples kindly lent by the Trustees of the South Australian Museum, and by Mr. 

 Edwin Ashby, of Adelaide. Among them are specimens from Port Lincoln, the Flinders 

 Range, Mt. Compass, Yorke's Peninsula, Mt. Lofty Ranges, and an example from Laura, about 

 one hundred and forty miles north of Adelaide. 



Strepera inehvwptera of South Australia, of which a not (luite adult specimen has also been 

 described by Dr. Sharpe under the name of 8. inievmedia, is a smaller and closely allied form of 

 S. arguta of Tasmania. Gould's ori-inal description, also the one given above of 5. vielanoptera, 

 have been taken from very old specimens, hasinj,' the general colour of the plumage darker, and 

 having lost the white bases to the inner webs of the primaries, although when the wing is spread 

 and cl^osely examined a faint ashy-brown wash may be seen on that portion of the primaries that 

 was originally white. In not quite adult specimens the general colour of the plumage is more 

 strongly shaded with brown, the bases of the inner webs of the primaries are white, and their 

 tips, also of the primary coverts and secondaries, are more or less edged or tipped with white 

 or brownish-white. Even in breeding plumage, and fully adult birds, these tips are sometimes 

 retained, but the white bases to the inner webs of the primaries of fully adult birds are gradually 

 overspread with a brownish-black wash, until they are nearly of a uniform brownish- 

 black. Between the two described stages of the plumage of S. melaiwptera, specimens may be 

 found with the bases of the inner webs of the primaries varying from white to brownish-black, 

 this being effected by a gradual change of colour in the feather, and not by moult. Age, 

 however, is an important factor in the entire absence of the basal marking to the inner web of 

 the primaries, and as a rule specimens are found with it more or less indicated. The wing 

 measurement of fully adult birds varies from lo-j inches in the female to ii-2 inches m the male. 

 From 5. a'^guta of Tasmania, adult specimens of 5. mdanopteya may be distinguished by 

 their smaller size, the almost entire absence of the darker margins to the feathers of the upper 

 parts, and bv the more or less brownish-black wash to the white bases of the inner webs of the 

 primaries, and in which, in very old birds, the inner webs of the primaries are almost unitorm 

 in colour. 



While in South Australia I was informed that this species was numerous in the mallee scrub 

 on Yorke Peninsula, and on Kan-aroo Island; also in the higher scrubby stringy -bark ridges of 

 the Mount Loftv Ranges near Adelaide. Mr. \V. White found it breeding on Kangaroo Island 

 in August; and in September, 1893, found eight nests in the mallee scrub on Yorke Peninsula, 

 which, with one exception contained either two eggs or two young birds. Dr. A. M. Morgan 

 found it breeding near Laura in September, 1896, and I saw numerous examples of its eggs 

 from different parts of South Australia in the collection of Mr. A. Zietz. 



Or \. M. Morgan, of Adelaide, to whom I am much indebted for information relative to 

 many species of South Australian birds, writes me as follows;-" Regarding Strepera mdanopura, 

 I have met with this bird at Boolerno Centre, one hundred and sixty-four miles north of Adelaide 

 and at the Finniss, about sixty miles south of the metropolis. During the nesting season and 

 the summer it inhabits thicklv timbered country, large mallee for preference, but m the autumn 

 and winter it is found in the more open country, and in the large gums bordering creeks, it is 

 generally met with singlv, or in pairs, and I have never seen more than two together. The Hig it 

 is rapid, undulating, graceful, and noiseless, and the note, which is only uttered while on the 

 wing, is a very loud ringing whistle, which can be heard at a great distance. 1 hey are 

 insectivorous, but whether wholly so I am unable to say. 



" The nest is built outwardlv of fine sticks, and is lined with dry grass and rootlets It is 

 about the same size as that of Gymnorlnna Unconota, but somewhat more evenly formed in its 



