NESTS AND EGGS O/- AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. ;2yj 



Xest. — Opcu, bowl-shaped; constructud of dead sticks and twigs, 

 well lined inside with baj-k, wool, gfi'ass, sometimes she-oak (Uas^uariiiuJ 

 needles, etc., and usually situated in the forked blanches of a tree. 

 Dimensions over all, 14 to 18 inches by 7 inches in depth ; egg cavity, 

 G to 8 inches across by 3 to 3 i inches deejj (See illustration.) 



There is in the Adelaide Museum a curious exhibit, a nest of this 

 species outwai'dly composed of twisted and crooked pieces of sheep 

 fencing wire. A nest taken from some melalcuca scrub near the eoiist, 

 was composed entirely of wire-like roots, and well litted inside with 

 string, pieces of jute, etc. The roots were melaleuca and had evidently 

 been taken from a newly grubbed piece of gi'ound near. 



Eggs. — Clutch, three to foui", occasionally five. Three types of 

 eggs may again be selected as the most common, all somewhat 

 lengthened or oval in foi-m. (A) Ground colour light or palc-gixen, 

 almost liidden with streaky and cloudy markings of piukish-red. (h) In 

 others the markings are drab or brown. ( r ) lliese examples have a 

 plain grey (sometimes greenish) ground colour, and like the type " c " 

 in G. tihicen are moderately, almost sparingly, marked with roundish 

 spots and blotches of umber and dull-slate. Some exccptioiuil examples 

 of a beautiful bluish-green colour, are devoid of markings save a 

 few indistinct freckles of chestnut. Dimensions in inches of a clutch 

 of type "/;•': (1) 1-58 x 1-07, (2) 1-57 x 104, (3) 1-52 x 108; a clutfh 

 in type "<■■•: (1) 1-56 x M2, (2) 1-56 xM, (3) 1-5.5 x M. (Plate 11.) 



Observations. — This showy and splendid .species inhabits the coastal 

 regions and more heavily forested paits of New South Wales, Victoria 

 and South Austraha. Whether it extends further west has not been 

 fully determined. In Victoria, south of the Great DivicUug Range, 

 the White-backed species is very abundant. It is instructive to observe 

 how that natural hanier divides the two species — the White-backed 

 from the Black-backed variety. Diuing several trips on our main rail- 

 way line across Victoria, I noted White-backed Magpies vei-y numerous 

 as far as Mount Macedon (43 miles) and Kyneton (56 miles). Beyond, 

 the numbers seemed to decrease. The first Black-backed birds were 

 seen at Malmsbury and Taradale (67 miles). The last White-backs were 

 noted beyond Castlemaine at Harcourt and Ravenswood (90 miles). 

 In the Bendigo (100 miles) district* the tide of Black-backs had fairly 

 set in. and by the time the plains of the Murray were reached these 

 birds were in great evidence. 



As may be expected, the natural habits and characteristics of the 

 Black-backed Magpie appear in the White-backed species. However, 

 as Gould experienced, the White-backed birds are more wai"y and shyer 

 in disposition. To a discriminating ear the delightful clear ringing call 



* Mr. H. E. Hill, writing from the BendiRO district five years after I made 

 this statement before the Royal Society of Victoria, states he finds the White-backs 

 the commoner of the two species there. Of late years, or since Magpies have been 

 protected all the year round, they have considerably increased in numbers, and have 

 appeared in localities where they \iiere not noticed before. Perhaps this is a case in 

 point. 



