94 PBIONOPID.E. 



years in the same place in the bank of a small creek in the Western District of Victoria." 

 From Port Augusta, South Australia, Dr. A. Chenery writes me: — "C. havmonka, is common 

 both in the gum creeks of Flinder's Range, and on the myall plains and mulga flats of the 

 north-west. I have taken a nest in the broken stump of a black oak on the steep side of a 

 table-land, and also in small shrubs in the gum creeks of the Flinder's Range."" 



Nidification usually begins about the first week in August, and the nest is completed in 

 about ten days. The eggs are deposited on successive days, and full sets of fresh eggs are not 

 uncommon in the last week in August. The earliest record I ha\e of nidification is the 25th 

 July, i8g6, and of a full set of fresh eggs on 7th August, 1897, During the past fifteen years, 

 near Sydney, I have found more nests with eggs in September, than any other month. Fresh 

 eggs for a second brood may be looked for in November, and 1 have known them to be taken 

 as late as the middle of December. 



This species is one of the foster-parents of the Pallid Cuckoo (C.uailiis paUidiis). On the 

 25th October, 1893, I exhibited at a meeting of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, a 

 set consisting of three eggs of Collyriocinda harmonica and an egg of Cuciihis pallidiis, taken from 

 a nest near W'oolli Creek. The Cuckoo's egg was deposited on the 17th October, when the 

 nest contained but two eggs of the Shrike-Thrush. 



Collyriocinda rectirostris. 



STKAKiUT-Un.LFD SHKIKE TIIKISH. 

 CoUuricincIa rectirostris, Jard. and SoUiy, III. Orii., Vol. IV., pi. XXXI., (1839). 



Colluricincla selbii, Gould, Bds. .Vustr., fol., Vol. II, pi. 77 (1848); id., Handlik. Bds. Austr., 

 Vol. I., p. 224 (186.5). 



Collyriocinda rectirostris, Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. III., p. 291 (1877) 



Adult male — Head, rump, and upper tail-coverts grey ; back, scapulars, lesser and tuedian 

 upper iving-coverts umber-brown; primaries, secondaries, and greater wing-coverts dark hroicn, 

 externally washed with grey, the inner series of the secondaries and the greater wing-coverts umber- 

 brown; tail grey; lores and an indistinct line over the eye dull white; chin, throat, and fore-neck 

 dull white, passing into greyish-while oti the remainder of the under surface; sides of the breast, 

 flanks, and under tail-coverts grey ; bill black; legs and feet greenish-grey ; iris dark hroirn. Total 

 length 9'5 inches, wing 5-1, tail Jf2, bill I'l, tarsus lo. 



Adult female — Distinguished from the male by its rufous eye broiv and hlackisli sliq/'t linns to 

 the feathers oj the under surface. 



Distribution. — Tasmania iind some of the islands of 1 !ass Strait. 



^TR^HIS species is represented in the Australian Museum collection by several specimens 

 -L procured by Mr. George Mtisters near the Ouse River, and other parts of the State. 

 In a northerly direction, its range over the islands of Bass Strait was e.\tended nearer to the 

 Australian continent by members of the Field Naturalists' Club of \'ictoria, who procured 

 specimens on King Island in November, 1887. 



Mr. E. D. Atkinson sends me the following note from Table Cape, Tasmania: — "I have 

 met with Collyriodnda rectirostris in most parts of Tasmania, also in the larger islands of Bass 

 Strait. It chiefly frequents cleared lands, and is seldom seen any distance in the forest. It is 

 an active and sprightly bird, and possesses a very musical note."' 



From notes made by Dr. L. Holden, principally at Circular Head, Tasmania, I have 

 extracted the following information: — "Collyriocinda rectirostris is an exceedingly courageous 

 bird, the male being larger and more noisy. He snaps his bill before uttering liis resounding 



