14 CORVID.E. 



outer structure. It is always placed in perpendicular forks, never on a horizontal branch, a long 

 thin branch being preferred, often making the nest difficult to get at. Generally it is built in a 

 large mallee, or gum growing in the scrub, but I have seen nests in low niallee, and one in a 

 wattle which could be reached from horseback, but this is unusual. The eggs are usually 

 three, though sometimes only two, and are undistinguishable from those ol other members of 

 the genus. 



"This species breeds in September and October, and I know of no instance ol a pair (jf 

 birds bringing out more than one brood in the same season." 



Eggs two or three in number for a sitting, varying in form from o\al to rounded 

 and elongate oval, the shell being close-grained and its surface smooth and slightly lustrous. 

 The ground colour varies from a pale buffy -white to a rich vinous-brown, which is freckled, 

 streaked, or blotched, with different shades of brown, the markings sometimes beiii^ uniforndy 

 distributed over the shell, in others predominating on the thicker end, where they become con- 

 fluent, and form a more or less well defined cap or zone. Some specimens have a few \ery 

 faint underlying markings of pale lilac -grey. Occasionally specimens are found that are 

 e\enly dotted and spotted with pale brown on a light buffy-grey ground colour. .\ set of two, 

 taken on Yorke Peninsula by Mr. W. White measures (A) i'6gxi-i2 inches; (1-5) i-7Xfi2 

 inches, .\nother set of two measures — (.\) f58xi-2; (B) i'59xi-2i inches. I'igure lo of 

 Plate Bi, is taken from an egg of a set of two, obtained by Mr. W. White (in ^'(>lk(■ Peninsula 

 in September, 1893. 



Strepera cuneicaudata. 



GREY CEOW-SHEIKE. 

 Cracticus cnneicaudaUis, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. d'Hist., torn. V., p. .3.56 (1816). 

 Strepera anaphonensis, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol. Vol. II., pi. 4.5 (1848); id., Handlik. Rils. Aust., 



Vol. I., p. 173 (18G.5). 

 Strepera cuneicaudata, Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. III., p. 60 (1877). 



Adult male — General cotoitr bron-iiis/i-r/rei/, passiii/j into a clearer grey uii the rump and upper 

 tail coverts, and ashy-grey oil the loiver breast and ahdom-.n; face blackish-brown: quills blackish- 

 brown externally, washed with grey ; tips of the secondaries and the basal Italf of the inner webs of 

 the outer pritnaries white; tail blackish-brown, washed with grey, all but the two central feathers 

 being largely tipped ivith white; bill and feet black; iris yellow. Total length in the JJesli, 20'5 

 inches, wing 11, tail 8'8, bill 3'6, tarsus J'G. 



Adult femalk — Similar to -the male in plumage, but slightly smaller. 



Distribution. — Queensland, New South Wales, \'ictoria. 



^~|^Hh3 (irey Crow-Shrike, also known as the " Grey Magpie," is abundantl_\- distributed 

 -L throughout the humid mountain ranges and hills of eastern and south-eastern Australia. 

 It has been recorded from as far north as Wide Bay in yueensland, and I ha\e met with it in 

 suitable localities throughout the greater portion of eastern New South Wales and southern 

 \'ictoria. In South Gippsland, before the undergrowth was cleared, and many of the forest 

 giants were felled for their timber, this species used to congregate in large flocks during the 

 winter months. Especially they made themselves conspicuous by their united ringing notes, in 

 drizzling weather, which was of common occurrence during that season of the year, before 

 devastating bush-fires and the splitter's axe had denuded the humid hills of their luxuriant 

 vegetation. In the early morning, roving flocks from ten to fifteen in nund)er, would descend 

 on the cleared portion around the house in search of newly-planted grain, and so tame were 

 they that they would come up to within a few yards of the door of the log or bark hut. 'i'hey were 



