GRADC4LUS. 105 



olive pervades the green or brown ground colour. Some are uniformly blotched and spotted 

 with different shades of umber, chestnut-brown, and indistinct underlying markings of dull 

 inky-grey; others are blotched, streaked, and spotted with purplish-brown, chestnut-bro\vn, 

 and umber, the markings being confluent on the larger end and forming a zone. Minute spots, 

 large clouded blotches, streaks, and irregular-shaped markings of different shades of reddish, 

 purplish, or umber-brown, intermingled with similar underlying markings of violet-grey, or 

 inky-grey, are not uncommon, the markings as a rule being very distinct from the ground 

 colour, in others being hardly distinguishable from it. A typical sized set of three measures: — 

 (A) 1-38x1 inches; (B) 1-37 x o-gS inches; (C) 1-37 x 0-97 inches. A large set measures: — (A) 

 fj X I inches; (B) 1-51 x 0-99 inches; (C) i'5 x 0-98 inches. The smallest set now before me, 

 measures: — (A) 1-25 x 0-87 inches; (B) 1-23 x 0-87 inches; (C) 1-25 x o-88 inches. 



Dr. A. M. Morgan informs me that he has a set of four eggs in his collection taken by the 

 late Mr. Malcolm Murray, in September, 1895, ^^ Stone Hut, about one hundred and fifty miles 

 north of Adelaide. 



From Point Cloates, North-western .Australia. Mr. Tom Carter writes me as follows: — 

 "Graucalus mela)wps is common in the vicinity of creeks inland. I took a set of two eggs on the 

 14th July, 1901, and in the same year saw half-grown young ones on the 24th August." 



Young birds have the lores, feathers above and below the eye, and the ear-coverts black; 

 those on the forehead and throat dull white, with blackish transverse bars, the chest and upper 

 portion of the breast less distinctly barred, and the lower portion of the breast, as well as the 

 abdomen and under tail-coverts, pure white ; quills broadlj- edged with white in some specimens. 

 In a further advance towards maturity, the feathers only on the throat are dull white, with 

 indistinct blackish cross-bars. One specimen, in which the dusk\' bars on the throat and 

 greyish bars on the lower breast are quite distinct, has the bases of the feathers on the forehead 

 black. 



Xidification usually commences in August, the eggs being deposited about the latter end 

 of the month, and the breeding season continues until the end of JanuarJ^ The earliest record 

 I have for eggs of this species, taken in New South Wales, is the 8th August, and the latest 

 •2nd December. 



Graucalus parvirostris. 



SMALL-BILLED CUCKOO-SHRIKE. 

 Graucalus parvirostris, Gould, Proo. Zool. Soc, 18:37, p. 1-13; id., Uandbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. I., 

 p. 194 (1865). 



Graucalus parvirostris (subsp.), Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. IV., p. :32 (1879). 



Adult male — General colour above grey; primaries black, the outer series narrowly edged 

 externally with greyish-white, and the inner series broadly edged and tipped with grey, passing into 

 greyish-white on the margin of the inner web ; secondaries black, the outermost featliers broadly 

 margined with grey, the latter colour increasing in extent towards the innermost feather, which has 

 lite outer web and lip entirely grey ; two central tail-feathers dark grey, with an indistinct blackish 

 spot towards the tip; remainder of the tail-feathers black, tipped toith white, which increases in 

 extent towards the outermost Jeather on either side; forehead, feathers above the eye, ear-coverts, sides 

 of the neck and throat black, gradually passing into dark grey on the chest, and grey on the lower 

 portion of the breast and abdotneti; centre of the abdomen and under tail-coverts white; bill and legs 

 black; "iris bluish-black" (H.o\dea). Total length 12 -o inches, wing 8, tail oS, bill 0-78, tarsus 1. 



Ad0lt female — Similar in plumage to the male. 



Distribution. — Tasmania, and some of the islands of Bass Strait. 



