XESTS A^/D EGGS Of AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



305 



black, relieved with some white about the face ; the powerful bill is 

 bluish horn-colour, passing into black at the tip, where is a suggestive 

 hooked notch; feet, leaden colour; eyes, dark reddish -brown. Total 

 length llA inches, wing 5A inches, tail A\ inches, and bill H inches. 



Wherever there is a bush paddock, a belt of timber, or an open forest 

 nook, from such a place will bo sure to arise during some hour of the day 

 the mellow flut«-like notes of the Butcher Bird. Even after its nest 

 has been robbed, it will sometimes favour you with its rich melodious 

 song. However, when alamied or angry, the bird can utter from the 

 same beautiful-voiced throat a harsh guttural scream. 



My earliest recollection of But<.'her Bird nesting was many years ago, 

 when we found a nest in the Murninibeena district placed on the woodv 

 excrescence at the junction of a mistletoe (Lorantliui) with the limb of 

 the foster tree (a eucalypt) — a favoiu-ite position for a Butcher Bird's 

 home. Perhaps the most handsome set of eggs I ever took was from a 

 nest situated in a t,all sapling near tlie creek at the rear of Oaklcigh. 

 They now grace the collection at the National Museum. The gi-eatest 

 number of eggs (five) I have found in one clutch of this species was on 

 19th September, 1894, when our genial field naturalist, Mr. Joseph 

 Gabriel, and I were perambulating the fringe of a " box " flat in 

 Riverina. A quintet is, I believe, frequently taken in Queensland. 



The appellation Butcher Bird is well applied to the various Cractici. 

 No doubt they slaughter for food many of the smaller species of birds, 

 in addition to such vermin as small snakes, mice, &c. Once when Lyre 

 Bird nesting in the Dandcnongs, I watched from behind a fern tree trunk 

 a Butcher Bird perched on the carcass of a tiger cat, pulling at the 

 pleasant morsels, and every now and again pausing with bill poised in 

 the air, as if enjoying the flavoiu- of the decomposing beast. 



Usual breeding months August to November or December, when 

 prob.ably two broods arc reared. 



247. — Ckacticus destructor (sub-species) cinereus, Gould. — (100) 



GREY BUTCHER BIRD. 



Reference —CbX. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. viii., p. loi. 

 Previous Descriptions of £g?s.— Campbell : Southern Science Record 

 (1882) ; North : Austn. Mus. Cat., p. 63 (1889). 



Geograph icii! Dinfrihiition. — Tasmania. 



Nei^f. — Resembles that of C. desfrucfor, composed of fine twigs, lined 

 inside with gi-ass and rootlets and placed in any bushy tree. 



Effgs. — Clutch, three to fom- ; roundish oval in shape ; texture of 

 shell fine ; surface glos-sy ; colour varies from greenish-gi-ey to light- 

 brown, blotched and spotted, chiefly in the fonn of a belt round the 

 apex, with reddish-brown and pui-plish-brown ; sometimes a few ink-like 

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