18 CORVID.E. 



While resident at Circular Head, Dr. L. Holden observed several of these birds in the 

 autumn, and which remained about Highfield all the winter; he also saw some on Robbin 

 Island. He writes that they were very numerous at Rocky Cape in July, and at Woolnorth in 

 November. In the former locality they were extremely tame, feeding from the pig-sty, and 

 allowing one to approach within a few feet. 



Many nests of this species were found by Mr. W. Grave, on King Island, during 1894-5. 

 They were large, open, bowl-shaped structures, formed externally of sticks, and lined inside 

 with rootlets, dried grasses, or strips of bark, and averaged fourteen inches in external diameter 

 by a depth of six inches, and seven inches across inside by a depth of three inches. They were 

 built chiefly in Tea trees, at \arying heights from twelve to forty feet, and contained mostly 

 two, sometimes three, and in one instance four eggs for a sitting. The eggs vary from oval to 

 elongate oval in form, the shell being close-grained and its surface slightly glossv. In ground 

 colour they vary from a pale to a rich vinous-brown, which is irregularly blotched, spotted, or 

 streaked with darker shades of the ground colour, intermingled in some specimens with similar 

 underlying markings of faint bluish or inky-grey. .\s a rule the markings are distributed all 

 over the shell, and are larger on the thicker end; in some specimens the markings form large 

 coalesced patches, or faint clouded underlying smears on one side or end of the shell. A set of 

 three, taken by Mr. Grave on the i8th November, 1894, measures as follows: — Length (A) 

 17 X 1-2 inches; (B) 174 x 1-19 inches; (C) 173 x i-2 inches. A set of two measures {.\) i-68 x 

 i-i6 inches; (B) 1-67 x i-i8 inches. 



PVom the data of eggs taken in different parts of Tasmania, on King Island, and in 

 Queensland, October and the three following months appear to constitute the normal breeding 

 season of this species. 



OeXL-ULS STK,TJTi3:inD:E;-^^, Gould. 



Struthidea cinerea. 



APOSTLE-BIRD. 

 Struthidea cinerea, Gould, Proc. Zoo). Soc. K^.'JG, p. 143; i-l, Bds. Austr., fol., Vol. IV., pi. 17 (1848); 

 id., Handbk. Bils. Austr, Vol. I., p. 472 (1865); Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. III., 

 p. 140 (1877). 



Adult m.\lk — General colour above and beloir ijrey, the feallmrs of the Iwad, neck, and chest, 

 hai:inr/ lighter ijrey tips, and th.o.-<e of tlie hack washed tvith brown; ic'mys pale hroicn, the primaries 

 externally edged ivUh Ihjht ashy-bro/ni, and the secondaries darker hroivn e.ccept o-n the margins of 

 the feathers; tail feathers black, sHyhtly glossed icith nietallic-greea ; bill and legs black; iris pearly- 

 tvhite. Total length in the Jlesh 13 inches, wing 6, tail 6-4, hill II [I, tarsus 1:55. 



Adult female — Similar to the male in plumage. 



Distribution.— "Slorthern Territory of South .\ustralia, Queensland, New South Wales, 

 Victoria, South .\ustralia. 



/"f^^HIS species is found only in the inland portions of northern, eastern and south-eastern 

 J- Australia. It frequents open forest-lands and low pine-covered hills, and is seldom 

 met with in the scattered belts of timber growing out on the plains. Usually it is seen in small 

 flocks, from six or seven to twelve in number, feeding on the ground beneath tlie branches of 

 some wide-spreading tree. When disturbed, these birds take refuge in the lower limbs, and rapidly 

 proceed to the topmost branches in a series of leaps, uttering at the same time harsh grating 

 cries, and rapidly elevating and lowering their tails. From their habit of associating in flocks, 



