GRAUCALUS. 



103 



Family GAMPOPHAGID^. 

 Graucalus melanops. 



BLACK-FACED CUCKOO-SURIKE. 

 Con-US melanops, Lath., liul. Orii., Suppl., p. xxiv., (1801). 



Grmicalus m«/rtMo/w, Gould, BJs. Austr., fol., Vol. II, j.l. T).") (184S); irl, Handhk. Bds. Austr., 



Vol. I., p. 192 (186."i); yliarpp, Cat. Bds. liiit. Mus., V"ol. T\^, p. 30(1S79); .Salvad., ( )rn. 



Pap. et Molucc, Ft. 11., p. 130 (1881). 



Adult malk — General colour nkove gret/ : upper iring coverU grey : primaries black, externally 



edged and tipped irith grey; secondaries black, the outermost Jeathers broadly margined with 



greii, the latter colour increasing in extent towards the innermost feather; n-hich has the outer 



web and tip entirely grey : two central tail-feathers grey, blackish on on their apical portion, and 



tiarrutrly tipped with white; the remainder black, largely tipped with white; forehead, feathers 



above the eye, ear-coverts, sides of neck, and throat 

 black : chest dark grey, gradually becomiiig lighter 

 on tlie breast, and piire ivhite on the abdomen and 

 nn.der tuil-corerts : bill black.- legs and feet black; 

 iris dark brou-n. 7'olal length in t/ie jiesh 1-j inches, 

 iring S, tail 58, bill 1, tarsus 1 05. 



AnuLT FEiMALK — Similar in plumage to the male. 



Distribution. — All parts of the Australian con- 

 tinent, islands of Torres Strait, New Guinea, 

 .\ru Islands, Ke Islands, Louisiade Archipelago, 

 the iMoluccas, Timor, New Zealand, Lord Howe 

 Island. 



Jr\. Shrike 



BLACK-FACKD CUCKOO-SHRIKE. 



LTHOUGH lhe\ernacularnameofCuckoo- 

 <e has been applied to the representa- 

 tives of tlie family Campophagidee inhabiting 

 Africa, Madagascar, and India for several decades, 

 and in recent years by Gould and Sharpe in their 

 work on the "Birds of New Guinea," the present 

 species is popularly known in nearly all parts of 

 Australia, by the name of "Blue Jay." 



Representatives of this widely distributed genus are found in .Vfrica, Madagascar, India, 

 Ceylon, the Malayan and Moluccan .Archipelagos, New Guinea, Australia, and Tasmania. 

 Graucalus melanops has a most extensive range. It is found in all parts of the Australian 

 continent, the islands of Torres Straits, also in South-eastern New Guinea, the Aru Islands, 

 Ke Islands, Louisiade Archipelago, the Moluccas, Timor, and occurs as an occasional visitant 

 to New Zealand and Lord Howe Island. There is a variation in the measurement of adult 

 specimens, even when procured in the same locality. The wing of an adult male from Derby, 

 North-western Australia, measures 7-6 inches, of another from King George's Sound 8 inches. 

 In a large number of Australian specimens before me, however, the extremes of size are 

 exhibited in two fully adult males, procured on the Mehi River, near Moree, New South Wales, 

 on the 3rd November, 1897. The wing of one shot by Mr. J. A. Thorpe, measures 8-3 inches; 

 another, shot by myself, measures only 7-5 inches. The wing of an adult male, obtained by 

 Mr. W. NichoUs on Lord Howe Island in October, 1892, measures 7-6 inches, and one from 

 Amboina is exactlv the same size. 



