NESTS A.VD EGGS 0/-' AUSTA'A/J.liV lUKDS. g,^ 



Sub-family — FuEoiLiNiE : Choughs. 



53. — COUCOKAX MELANOKHAMPHUS, VieiUot. (288). 



WHITE-WINGED CHOUGH. 



Figure. — Gould : Birds of .-Vustralia, fol., vol. iv., pi. i6. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus , vol. iii., p. 149. 



Previous Dtscriptions of Eggs.— GowXd: Birds of Australia (1848), Hand- 

 book, vol. i., p. 471 (1S65); North: Austn. Mus. Cat., p. 1S9 

 (1889) ; Campbell : Gcelong Naturalist, vnl. vi., p. 3 (iSg6). 



Geographical Di^trihufinn. — Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria 

 and South Australia. 



Xext. — Large, bowl-shaped, composed of coarse cemented mud scantily 

 lined inside with matted string}--bark, grass, and sometimes with fur and 

 feathers, and conspicuouslj' placed on any convenient horizontal limb of a 

 tree in open forest or belt of timber. (See illustrations.) Dimensions 

 over all of an average nest, 8J inches by 6i inches in depth ; egg cavity 

 7 inches across by 3 inches deep. 



t^i/V- — Clutch, five to seven usually, eight or more occasionally ; 

 incUned to be elliptical in shape ; texture of shell comparatively strong, 

 with glossy surface ; colour, wliitish or light yellowish-wliite, moderately 

 but boldly blotched with irregular-sized patches of olive-brown and dull- 

 slate, the latter colour imdcrlyiug the surface of the shell. Dimensions in 

 inches of a pair from an incomplete clutch of three taken near Pvramid Hill, 

 Victoria, 6th October, 1884: (1) 1-58 x Ml, (2) 1-53 x Ml ; of a proper 

 clutch of five eggs (seven birds to the family) taken near the Murray, 

 Rivei-iiia, 5th November, 1892: (1) 1-64 x 1-14, (2) 157 xM4, 

 (3) 1-56 X M4, (4) 1-51 x MO, (5) 1-41 x M2. (Plate 5.) 



Observations. — There is much of interest surrounding the Corcorax. 

 Not only is the bird a unique or anomalous kind, but as a common forest 

 species tiirougliout the greater part of Australia, little is understood of 

 its natural habits. Its total length is given at 16 to 19 inches; wing. 

 10 inches; tail, 9 inches; a somewhat slender bill is 1| inches, while 

 the black pliunage with its glossy -gi-een reflections is set off with scarlet 

 eyes. All our native birds are more or less infested with vermin. Some 

 specimens of the Chough are very repidsive in tliis respect. 



Gould savs the Chough occurs in small troojss of from si.x to ten in 

 number. During a recent inland exciu'siou, I was careful to count 

 the individuals of various famiUes, which numbered respectively six, seven, 

 seven, and six. On another occasion I was present at the taking of a 

 nest, when seven birds appeared in a very excited manner. Of coiuse 

 there may be lai-ger flocks when augmented by the season's young. 

 Mr. Clias. McLennan witnessed m the Mallec, one autumn, a large flock 

 of over 100 Choughs. The gi-eat natvu'alist also says, " It has often struck 

 me that more than one female deposits her egg in the same nest, as four or 

 five females may be frequently seen cither on the same or neighboiuing 

 trees, while only one nest is to be found." 



Mr. A. J. North writes, " As many as eight eggs have been taken from 

 one nest. It would appear therefore that more than one bird lays in a 

 single nest. It is well known that often more than one pair of birds 

 assists in the construction of one nest." 

 5 



