/VESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



99 



Ntst. — Consti-ucted after the fashion of that of G. melanops, but often 

 built into an old denuded foundation of a Grallina or Magpie Lark's nest, 

 lined inside with pieces of vei-y fine twigs and gi'ass, and outwardly deco- 

 rated with spiders' web, which in the case of a Grallina s old nest forms a 

 rim about three-quarters of an inch broad round the remnant of drj^ mud. 

 Dimensions over all, 4^ inches by 1 inch deep inside. 



Jii/ffs.— Clutch, one to two, sometimes three ; inclined to oval in 

 shape; texture of shell fine; surface glossy; colour, yellowish- 

 olive, blotched all over with rich reddish-brown or chestnut and 

 purplish-brown. Dimensions in inches of a single example : (1) 118 x -8 ; 

 of a pail' with a beautiful gi-ccnish gi'ound-colour : (1) 111 x '76, 

 (2) 1-08 X -76. 



Observations. — The Little or Varied Cuckoo Shrike is not uncommon 

 in- the eastern and southern States, especially in the Murray district and 

 other Riverine localities, where they love to sport among the red-gums 

 (eucalypts). 



Many persons fall into error by confounding this species with the Black- 

 faced variety, G. melanops, notwithstanding the Little Cuckoo Shrike 

 posseses different markings and is much smaller in size. Mr. G. A. Keartland 

 has tested the weights of the birds. He found G. mefanops weighed 

 5\ ounces, while G. meiitah's only timied the scale at '2,f ounces. 



Mr. J. Gabriel and I noticed the nest of this Ciickoo Shinke built into 

 the old foimdation of a Grallina's in a tree growing near the river Murray, 

 November, 1892. Mr. G. H. Morton infonns me he has since confirmed 

 this trait in the bird's economy by finding a nest with three eggs on the 

 28th September following in a similar position ; while an intelligent 

 observer, who went shearing the same month, near the south-western 

 bomidary of Queensland, because business was dull in Melbourne, found 

 a Cuckoo Shrike's nest containing three eggs built into a Mud Lark's old 

 home. If it were not the Little Cuckoo Shrike, then the Black-faced 

 species must occasionally adopt the habit of its smaller cousin. 



The breeding months generally are included from September to 

 December. 



78. — Graucalcs lineatus, Swainson. — (107) 

 G. swainsnnn, Gould. 



BARRED CUCKOO SHRIKE. 



Figure —Gou\d : Birds of Australia, fol.. vol. ii , pi 58. 

 Reference.— Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. iv., p 40 



Previous Descriptions of Eggs.— Ve Souef: Ibis, p. 314 (1896). also Victorian 

 Naturalist, fig. (1896). 



Geographical Distribution. — Queensland and New South Wales. 

 Xest. — Similar to that of other members of the genus, composed of 



