NESTS AXD EGGS OF AUSTKAUAN lilKDS. 



2y5 



and slie was fwl on lior nest by tlie mate of the sitting Magpie in the 

 verandaii. Ml'. Hngli Walker, who, after tlio ups and downs of 5U yeai-s 

 of Australian life, is s[K'uding his declining yoiirs at East St. Kilda, 

 lias a jjot Magpie wiiicii has built a nest in his bedroom, in the comer of 

 tlie waslisland ; and it is now hatching a clutch of three eggs. ' Pattie,' 

 as she is called, took about three weeks over the building of the nest. 

 8he coninionced by bringing sticks, wire, ifec, from the yard, and finished 

 by lining tlie nest with hair plucked from a large floor-iiig. The first 

 egg was laid ou the 16tii of August (1899), tlio second ou the 18th, and 

 tile third on the 19tli. Although ' Pattie ' sits steadfastly, she evidently 

 entert;iins dcubts about ro;iring her family, because she is always calling, 

 ' There is no luck about the house when our guidman's awa'.' Wild 

 Magpies have been noticed about, and a nest was startetl by some in a 

 neighbouring pine tree." 



239. — Gymnorhina hyperleuca, Gould. — (94) 

 LESSER WHITE-BACKED MAGPIE. 



Figure. — Gould ; Birds of Australia, fol., vol. ii , pi, 48. 



Refcieiue. — Cat Birds Brit, Mus., vol. viii., p. 92, 



Previous Dfscriplions 0/ Eggs. — Gould: Birds of Australia (1S4S) ; also 

 Handbook, vol, i, p. 179 (1865) ; North : Austn Mus Cat, p. 61, 

 pi, 7, fig. 9 (1889). ; Campbell ; Proc Roy See Victoria, vol vii., 

 new ser,, p. 212 (1894). 



Geui/rdphica! Dixfributio)). — Tasmania. 



Xest. — Open, bowl-shaped, composed of sticks and twigs, lined inside 

 \vith roots, bark, gi'ass, &c., and usually situated in the forked branches 

 of a tree. Dimensions slightly smaller than those of Icuanidta. 



Eijija — Clutch, three to four, occasionally five ; oval in form ; 

 light greenish gi'oimd coloiu" mottled and marked all over with umber. 

 Another class of specimens which, however, is not so common, is roimder 

 in form aaid more of a distinct greenish colour, moderately marked as 

 in typo ■' c " of the preceding species, with roimdish blotches of umber. 

 Interspersed are also a few wavy markings. Dimensions in inches : 

 clutch— long examples: (1) 1-52 x 1-09, (2) 1'45 x 1-05, (3) 1 35 x -98. 

 Two, from a clutch of four— roimd examples : (1) 1'42 x 1-09, (2) I'4 x 

 1-12. 



Observatwns. — The Tasmauian Magj)ie is an insular fonii of the 

 White-backed Magpie of the mainland. Considering that the Tas- 

 manian forms of the same species of the mainland birds are usually larger, 

 it is worthy of remark that the Tasmanian Magpie is smaller — an 

 iidditional fact, perhaps tending to prove that it is a good species and not 

 merely a smaller race of G. leuronota. Likcwsc, it is a curious fact 

 that, although some of the birds peculiar to Tasmania — including a 



