§ GTMNORHININ.E. 



between G. tihiccn and the present species are not uncommon : adult birds of both sexes being 

 sometimes found with a narrower but well defined black band across the back, in others they 

 assume the form of a line of more or less scattered black feathers. There are also specimens 

 in the Australian Museum collection with black feathers on the back each having a more or 

 less sharply defined white margin on the apical portion. Several albinoes and semi-albinoes 

 are in the mounted collection. 



Open forest lands, clearings on mountain ranges, and plains are alike resorted to by this 

 species, and like G. tihicen it follows in the tracks of settlement. Cultivation paddocks during 

 ploughing time are favourite localities for these birds to congregate in, and at the same time 

 do a vast amount of good in ridding the soil of grubs and insects. To this diet is added worms, 

 small birds and field mice. On the same scale, this species has when hard pressed with 

 hunger, showed the grain eating proclivities of its compeer G. tihiccn. 



Dr. W. Macgillivray writes me as follows: — '"Gymnovhina huconota is universally distributed 

 in Western Victoria, and several nests are to be seen annually in the Blue Gums which grace the 

 streets of Coleraine. Nesting usually starts early in July and nests may be found with fresh eggs 

 until the end of October. One nest which I came across on a dead tree was rather a formidable 

 affair, being composed of boxthorn twigs and fencing wire, this was evidently a matter of choice 

 as there was no scarcity of other material in the vicinity. A Magpie in the possession of Mrs. 

 W. Steel, who lives in Hamilton, has for eight successive seasons built a nest and reared a brood 

 of young ones in a Blue Gum tree near the house, mating each time with a wild bird. All food 

 for the young ones is obtained at the house till they leave the nest when they all go with the 

 wild parent, and " Maggie," though quite able to fly, never accompanies them, but resumes her 

 old life about the house. Two Magpies in the possession of Mr. Abraham Greed, in Hamilton, 

 also nest in captivity, and I had the pleasure of seeing them sitting side by side on separate 

 nests built in a tool box in an outhouse, one on eggs and the other on three young birds. These 

 birds were male and female ; one nest was first built by both birds, eggs were laid, the hen bird 

 sitting on them until hatched, when they were handed over to the male bird, who fed and sat 

 upon them, the female straight away started another nest and laid three more eggs on which she 

 sat, only occasionally helping to feed the first brood when she came off the nest. Magpies are 

 rather partial to wheat, an unfortunate taste, as great numbers die every summer from eating 

 the poisoned wheat laid for rabbits ; they have also been caught killing and eating young 

 chickens to my certain knowledge." 



The nest is an open bowl-shaped structure externally formed of thin sticks and twigs, the 

 inside being neatly rounded and lined with shreds of bark, rootlets, cow or horse hair and 

 rabbit fur. An average one measures externally fifteen and a half inches in diameter by seven 

 inches in depth, and internally seven inches and a half in diameter by four inches in depth. The 

 upright forks oi a. Eucalyptus or Casumina from twenty to sixty feet from the ground is a favourite 

 nesting site, but often it is built at a low altitude in the bushy top of a green sapling or a tea tree, 

 and sometimes in the tops of low bushes, within a few feet of the ground. Mr. A. M. N. Rose 

 forwarded a nest to the Trustees of the Australian Museum, which was built in a low shrub close 

 to the ground at Boloco, Snowy River. The birds had reared a brood in the same structure for 

 several years, and during one season two broods. Mr. G. A. Keartland informs me that in 

 company with Mr. Joseph Gabriel, a nest was found in August 1S95 at Werribee, Victoria, in 

 the top of a hedge about four feet in height. Nests largely composed of fencing or telegraph 

 wire are not uncommon. There are two of these structures in the South Australian Museum, 

 Adelaide, one forwarded by Messrs. H. and I'. Rymill at Canowie in 1887, the other by the 

 Hon. J. L. Stirling at Strathalbyn, in i8go. 



