92 



PKIONOPID.E. 



Ca-en-U-S COXjnL,"Z'ISIOC:l3SrOILj..^, vigors .£• Horsfield. 



Collyriocincla harmonica. 



GREY SHRIKE-THRUSH. 

 Turdus hnrinonicns, Latb., Iiid. Orn., Suppl., p. xli., (lt<01). 

 Collurieincla harmonica, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol., Vol. TI., pi. 74 (1848), id., Handbk. Bds. Austr, 



Vol. I., p. 220 (1865). 

 Collyriocincla harmonica, Sharpp, Cat. Bds. Brit. .Mus., Vol. III., p. '-".•0 (1877). 



Adult M.\LE — General colour above grey ; hitid neck, ncapn./artt, nud Ixick Hmhirdirown : tipper 

 wing-coverts grey, the lesser and median series washed ivitli umber-broirn ; primaries and secnndaries 

 blackish-brown, externally edged with grey, which increases in extent towards the outermost secondaries; 

 tail grey; lores and chin dull white; under surface of the body light ashy-grey : centre of the abdomen 

 and under tail-coverts dull white; bill blackisli-brown : legs and feet greenish-grey : iris dark broivn. 

 Totod length in the fi«sh 9 5 inches, wing o'^, tail 4' f bill 0'82, tarsus I'-i. 



Adult female — Distinguished from the male by having a very much paler bill, mid the h'nihers 

 of the throat, fore-neck, and breast having narrow black shaft-lines. 



Distribution. — Queensland, New South Wales, X'ictoria, South Australia. 



/"ITVHE Grey Shrike-Thrush is a common and generally distributed species throughout most 



J- parts of Kastern and South-eastern .\ustralia. There are specimens in the .Vuslralian 



Museum collection obtained by the late Mr. W. S. Day at Cairns, Queensland, but it is more 



freely dispersed in the southern portion of that State. It is common in New South Wales, 



-^, X'ictoria, and some parts of South .\ustralia. 



I saw an example in the Botanic Gardens at 

 .\delaide, and Dr. \. M. Morgan has recorded 

 it from Laura, about one hundred and forty 

 miles north of that city; Dr. .\. Chenery has 

 also found it breeding to the north-west of Fort 

 .\ugusta. 



It frequents the coastal scrubs, open forest 

 bnds, mountain ranges, and the wooded 

 margins of rivers and creeks. Partially 

 cleared lands, and the neighbourhood of 

 orchards, are also favourite resorts of this 

 familiar and well known bird. L'sually it is 

 met with singly or in pairs, e.vcept during the 

 breeding season when accompanied with its 



GRKY SHRIKE-THRUSH. 



young. It is of a tame and fearless disposition, and when disturbed seldom flies far, alighting 

 generally in the nearest tree, or on some fallen log, over which it proceeds in a series of hops. 

 Although a resident species in New South Wales, it is more abundantly distributed during the 

 spring and summer months. Near Sydney, during April, May, and the greater part of June, it 

 utters a shrill note, quite different from the melodious notes poured forth in the breeding season. 

 In June, 1S93, ^^ Toongabbie, near Parramatta, so much was I deceived by the notes and 

 actions of a pair of these birds in the top of a lofty eucalyptus, that I had to shoot them in 

 order to be sure of their identification. In the warm and sunny days that herald the approach 

 of a coming spring, its notes are the richest and most melodious of any heard in the neighbour- 

 hood of large towns and cities, fully justifying the original vernacular name of Harmonic 

 Thrush, bestowed on it by Dr. Latham. It is, however, more generally known as the Grey 

 Shrike-Thrush, a name first applied to it by Messrs. Jardire and Selby in their " Illustrations 

 of Ornithology." 



