110 CA.MPOPHAGID.E. 



immature specimens of G. hypolencus showing traces of the black head and chest of that species. 

 Specimens from Port Moresby, New Guinea, are shghtly whiter on the under surface, and 

 smaller than examples from Northern Australia. 



I\lr. J. A. Thorpe obtained numerous examples at Cape York in 1867-8: and Mr. George 

 Masters also obtained specimens in the same locality, and at Cape Grenville. during the voyage 

 of the "Chevert" in 1875. 



From W'yalla, about thirty miles south of Cooktown, Mr. Frank Hislop writes: — "The 

 White-bellied Cuckoo-Shrike is common in the open forest lands, and I have often met with 

 it in timbered pockets on the mountains. Its food consists of insects and fruits, principally 

 the smaller species of figs; it is also very fond of chillies. The nest, which is nearly flat, is 

 chiefly composed of short pieces of twig and strips of bark, fastened together with cobwebs, and 

 is always placed in the junction of a forked horizontal branch, more often near the extremity 

 of a limb. They build generally in the bloodwood and beefwood trees, at a height varying 

 from fifteen to thirty feet from the ground. The breeding season commences in October, and 

 lasts until the end of [anuary." 



The eggs, usually two, sometimes three in number for a sitting, are not to be distinguished 

 from small eggs of G. meiitalis. In addition to the previously described varieties of the eggs of 

 the latter species, a common type among the eggs of G. hypoleiiciis has a rich bluish-green 

 ground colour, with heavy blotches of purplish-brown or reddish-umber, distributed over the 

 larger end of the shell, and intermingled with similar faint underlying markings of a paler 

 shade. A set of two, from Cape York, measures: — (A) 1-07 xo-8 inches; (H) fo8xo-8 inches. 

 A set of two, taken near Cooktown, measures: — (A) fi x o'8 inches; (B) i'i2 x o'8i inches. 



Pteropodocys phasianella. 



i.iUul NU CUCKUU-SUHIKE. 



Graucalus phasiandlus, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soa, 18.39, p. 142. 



Pteropodocys phasianella, Gould, Bds. Austr., fol., Vol. 11., pi. .t9 (1848); id., Haiidlik. Bds. Austr., 

 Vol. [., p. 199 (1865); Sharpe, Cat. Bds, Brit. .Mas., Vol. IV., p. 22 (1879). 



Adult m.\lk — Head, hind-neck, inantle, and upper portion of the hack, yrey : luicer back, rump, 

 and tipper tail-coverts white, crossed by narrow transverse black lines; wings black, the lesser coverts 

 dark grey ; tail feathers black, white at the base, the outer feather on either side broadly tipped with 

 white; small feathers around and below the eye grey, tipped with white; ear-coverts blackish-grey, 

 with indistinct wititish cross-lines ; throat, sides of the neck, and chest grey, passing into white on 

 the remainder of the under surface, which is crossed iviih narrow transverse black bars; centre 0/ the 

 lower abdomen, under tail-coverts, arid a:rillaries white ; bill black; legs and feet black : iris straiv- 

 white. Total length in the Jlesh H inches, wing 8;i, tail 7, bill OS, tarsus 1:5. 



Adult female — Similar in plumage to the male. 



Distribution. — Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Central .Australia, Western Australia. 



/ I^HE Ground Cuckoo-Shrike is essentially an inhabitant of the inland portions of the 

 J- States. Dr. W. Macgilli\ray informs me that it is common at Cloncurry, in the Burke 

 District, North Queensland. Mr. K. Broadbent has recorded it from Barcaldine, about three 

 hundred and fifty miles west of Rockhampton; and its range extends south throughout the 

 inland districts of New South Wales, into the north-western parts of \'ictoria, and doubtless 

 the adjoining portion of South .Australia, although Dr. .\. M. Morgan and Mr. .V. Zietz 



