STliRPElIA. 



15 



extreiiiflv noisy, and wnuld (luarrel among themselves over a scrap of food thrown out to them. 

 Several years after m\- first \isit to the Strzelecki Ran,i;es, the aspect of these thickly-timbered 

 hills had. in many places, entirely changed. Large clearings had been made and cultivated, 

 and a great proportion of the timber had been ring-barked, the original surrounding under- 

 growth cut and burnt, and the place sown with grass. Well-formed bush roads were made, 

 and the bark huts were replaced with sawn-timber houses. The large flocks of Grey Crow- 

 Shrikes had left the neighbourhood, and only now and again a solitary bird, or pair, would be 

 heard, their ringing cries now being replaced by the flute-like notes ot that close attendant on 

 cultivation, the Black-backed Magpie or Piping Crow-Shrike (Gymnflrhina tihicen). Since the 

 cultivation of fruit trees in the district, I have been informed that the Grey Crow-Shrikes are 

 again plentiful when the softer fruits are ripe, and which they sometimes attack. 



The peculiar note \\hich is usually uttered during flight is difficult to syllabicate. On the 

 Strzelecki Ranges, a coiupanion thought it more resembled the words ''Gipps-land-for-ever" each 

 repeated clearly and distinctly, and the last word accompanied by a ringing sound. When 

 searching for insects in trees, or hopping from limb to linfli, it also utters a low mournful 

 whistle. 



In New South Wales these birds are common on tlie Blue Mountains about Springwood 

 and Lawson, and the surrounding districts, also about Moss \'ale and Bundanoon on the 

 southern line. They are extremely sociable birds, breeding in trees near one another, and are 

 often seen in company with their congener, S.gractihna. Unlike the latter species, however, they 

 are seldom met with in open forest lands, and I have never observed them about the suburbs of 

 Sydney. 



Wikl fruits, berries, and insects and their lar\a', constitute the natural food of this species. 

 They spend a great deal of their time on the ground, eating locusts, grubs, caterpillars, and 

 various seeds. They are not such notorious orchard marauders as S. graculiiia, but sometimes 

 eat cultivated fruits, and later on de\our the maize while in the cobs. Stomachs of these 

 birds 1 have examined in the summer contained insects of various kinds, and the skins of fruits 

 and berries; and in the autumn, principally maize. Personally I have never observed them 

 attacking cultivated fruits. 



The nest of this species is a large open structure, rough!)- formed externally of sticks, the inner 

 cup being made of long fine twigs, which is again lined entirely with wiry rootlets or coarse 

 dried grass-stalks. It averages externally fifteen inches in diameter by six inches in depth, and 

 internally eight inches in diameter by three inches in depth. The nests are placed either in 

 upright, leaning, or horizontal forks of a Eucalyptus or Casuarina, at heights varying from ten to 

 forty feet from the ground. Two or three eggs are usually laid for a sitting, generally the 

 former number, which vary in form from oval to rounded oval, the shell being close grained 

 and its surface smooth and slightly lustrous. The ground colour varies from a pale hu(Ty and 

 pale chocolate-brown to a rich vinous-brown and vinous grey, the freckles, streaks, and small 

 blotches on the diff"erent varieties being of a slightly darker and richer tint than the ground 

 colour. In some specimens the markings are distinct, and uniformly distributed over the shell; 

 in others predominating at one end, and forming caps or confluent patches. Specimens, 

 especially those with the paler ground colours, have often underlying markings of various 

 shades of dull bluish and slaty-grey. A set of three measures as follows: — Length (A) 1-67 xT-2 

 inches; (B) 17 x 1-22 inches; (C) 172x1-23 inches. .\ very distinctly marked set of two in 

 Mr. R. J. Etheridge's collection, taken by him at Colo \'ale on the 14th November, 1898, shows 

 great difference in size: — Length (.\) i-8 x 1-25 inches; (B) i-jS x 1-15 inches. 



Medgelings ha\e the feathers on the head, neck, mantle, and back centred and tipped with 

 pale rufous-brown, the quills tipped with white; lores, feathers around the eye, and the chin 

 blackish: the downv feathers on the under parts are dull grey, washed with fawn-brown, those 



