CRACTICUS. 



15 



tUitiufely striated with pain brown; chin, throat and fore-neck pale creamy-brown; remainder of the 

 under surface and under tail-coverts wliite. Total length in thejlesh 135 inches, wing 7, tail 5-75, 

 hill 1-7, tarsus l-J/.. 



Distribution. — Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Central Australia, 

 Western Australia, North-western Australia. 



^^HE Black-throated Butcher-bird is widely distributed 

 over the Australian contnient, but does not appear 

 anywhere to be a very common species. There are a number 

 of specimens in the Australian Museum collection, obtained 

 by Mr. George Masters at Gayndah on the Burnett River, 

 Queensland, by the late Mr. J. MacGillvray on the Clarence 

 River, New South Wales, by the late Mr. K. H. Bennett, 

 procured in different parts of Western New South Wales, 

 and others obtained by Mr. R. Grant on Buckiinguy Station. 

 I have also examined specimens procured by Mr. G. A. 

 Keartland in Central Australia, and others from the Trustees 

 of the South iVustralian Museum, Adelaide, obtained in 

 different parts of South Australia: from Mildura, \'ictoria, 

 and from the Barrow Ranges and Coolgardie, Western 

 Austraha. Mr. Tom Carter informs me that he found it 

 breeding inland from Point Cloates. Dr. E. P. Ramsay has 

 also recorded it from the vicinity of Derby, North-western 

 Australia,' and more recently Dr. E. Hartert I enumerates 

 specimens from Nullagine and the Coongan River. 



The above figure represents an adult male. 



The wing measurement of an adult male obtained by Mr. George Masters at Gayndah, 

 Burnett River, Queensland in September 1870, is 6-85 inches; of an adult male procured by the 

 late Mr. K. H. Bennett in the Lachlan District, New South Wales in June 1883, 7-15 inches; 

 and of another adult male he obtained the following month at Moolah, 77 inches. The latter 

 is the largest specimen I have seen. Immature males may be distinguished by the brownish 

 shade towards the tips of the quills and by having the feathers of the head, throat and chest 

 dull black instead of glossy black. Gould states that the sexes are precisely alike in colour 

 and that they can be only distinguished with certainty by dissection. Mr. G. A. Keartland 

 also states that the sexes are alike in plumage. + This is contrary to my experience and 

 observations, all the adult females I have seen differing in colour from the males as described 

 above. This is supported too by the mass of material before me of which there is not a black 

 and white temale among them. 



In New South Wales the present species is more freely distributed in the western and 

 northern portions of the State. I met with it on the Clarence River, but have never observed 

 it in the southern coastal districts, or in any part of south-eastern New South Wales. It is 

 usually seen in pairs in open forest lands, pine scrub, and belts of timber on the plains. I found 

 it breeding at Narrabri in November 1S96, and again in the same month in the following year 

 at Moree. 



ULACK-THKOATICIl BUTCH ER-HIHD. 



* Proc. Linn. Soc.,2nd Ser , Vol. I., p. 167 (1SS7). 



t Nov. Zool., Vol. XII.. p. 229 (1905). 



J Rept. Horn. Exped Central Austr. Zool., p. 71 (18y6). 



