36 nicituRiD.E. 



Adult male — General colour above black; feathers of the head and sides of the hind neck 

 tipped tvilh metallic steel-yreen; rump, upper tail-coverts, ivings and tail black, washed with metallic 

 steel-green; all the under surface black, slightly glossed ivith green, the tips of the feathers of the 

 throat and fore-neck spangled ivith small spots of metallic steel green ; under wing-coverts black, with 

 a rounded spot of trhite at the tips; bill and legs black; iris red. Total length in the fesh 13-25 

 inches, wing 6-25, outer tail feathers 5-2, central tail feathers 4'S, bill 1'3, tarsus 9. 

 Adult female — Similar in plum.age to the male. 



Distribution. — Northern Territory of South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales, 

 Victoria, Tasmania, New Guinea. 



gr^ HANK included this species in the older genus Dicnmis, as the principal characters of the 

 -L. genus Chihia, founded on an Asiatic species, are absent in the only representative of this 

 family inhabiting Australia. 



The range of the Drongo-shrike extends over the south coast of New (iuinea and the 

 greater part of Northern and liastern .\ustralia. Numerous examples were obtained at Port 

 Darwin by the late Mr. E. Spalding, and it is freely distributed in favourable situations through- 

 out the whole of the coastal districts of Eastern Queensland and the north-eastern portions 

 of New South Wales. Fartlier soutli it is seldom met with, except in the autumn, after the 

 breeding season is over, when specimens are sometimes obtained during March, April, and 

 May. Near Sydney it was not uncommon between Newport and Manly in the autumn of 

 1900, spetimens also being procured farther inland at Windsor, Pemith. and Campbelltown. 

 At Lithgow, on the Blue Mountains, at an elevation of over three thousand feet, Mr. Robt. 

 Grant saw about fifty in small flocks in 1875, and obtained several examples. Previously 

 he had not observed them in that locality, nor has he seen any since. It is, however, of a 

 roving n.iture, and occasional visitants have been obtained in \'ictoria, and even Tasmania. 

 The wing measurement of adult males from different localities varies from 6 to 6-5 inches. 



The Drongo-shrike in New South Wales evinces a decided preference for trees on the 

 edges of scrubs, and is mostly seen in pairs, but not infrequently in small companies, varying 

 from four to six in number, the latter probably a pair of adults accompanied by their progeny, 

 for they are generally seen crowding one against another near the end of a dead branch. When 

 once heard, its harsh and peculiar note cannot easily be mistaken for that of any other species. 

 In the manner of securing its food it resembles tlie Dollar-bird, and some species of Wood 

 Swallows, sallying forth from its perch on some dead branch to secure a passing insect, and 

 returning again to the sjime spot after capturing it. It is not, however, strictly insectivorous, 

 and many of the specimens I have seen were obtained while feasting on cultivated fruits. The 

 stomachs I examined of specimens procured at Bay View, Manly, and at Penrith, were all 

 filled with the heads, legs, and elytra of black beetles, and in one I found a perfect dragon-fly. 

 The nest, which is attached at the sides to a thin forked stem of an outspreading branch, is 

 a cup-shaped structure formed almost entirely of vine tendrils intermingled with pliant plant 

 stems, and frequently has a quantity of spiders' web worked over the fork in which it is built. 

 An average nest measures externally six inches in diameter by three inches in depth, the inner 

 cup measuring three inches and a half in diameter by two inches in depth. 



The nest and eggs figured were taken by Mr. G. Savidge on the 17th November, npi, 

 at the head of Wombat Creek in the Upper Clarence District. Externally the nest is triangular 

 in form, and is built between and around a thin horizontal forked stem of a box-tree, the rim on 

 one side of the nest standing above the branch. It is formed throughout of long curling vine 

 tendrils and plant stems, and has at each angle a quantity of spiders' web worked over the 

 branch, the inner portion being cup-shaped and neatly rounded. Externally the structure 

 averages six inches in diameter by three inches in depth, the inner cup measuring four inches 



