CRACTICDS. 



17 



six inches in diameter by three in depth. It is usually placed in the upright forked branch of a 

 Callitris, Eucalyptus or Casnarina, at a height varying from fifteen to forty feet from the ground. 



The eggs are usually four, sometimes only three in number for a sitting, and vary from oval 

 to rounded and elongated oval in form, the shell being close-grained, smooth and lustrous. Like 

 the eggs of its compeer C. destructor, they differ considerably in colour and in the disposition of 

 their markings. In ground colour they vary from a light asparagus green to a greenish or a 

 uniform pale brown. A set of four of the latter type now before me, are thickly freckled and 

 dotted all over with a slightly darker shade of the ground colour and are not unlike a variety of 

 egg of the Little Water Crake: Length (A) 1-35 x 0-95 inches; (B) 1-36 x 0-93 inches; (C) 1-32 x 

 0-92 inches; (D) 1-33 x 0-92 inches. A set of three taken by Mr. G. Savidge at Copmanhurst, 

 are of a yellowish-brown ground colour, spotted and blotched with different shades of umber, 

 with which are intermingled conspicuous black ink-like spots, the markings predominating on 

 the thicker end where they are confluent and form an irregular zone : Length (A) 1-43 x 0-95 

 inches; (6)1-45 x 0-96 inches; (C) 1-42 x 0-95 inches. A set of four are somewhat similar, 

 but are devoid of the ink-like spots, one specimen having the markings in the form of a zone 

 around the smaller end, another with a distinct olive shade in the ground colour has a small cap 

 formed of confluent dull blackish-brown on the thicker end: Length (A) 1-2 x 0-92 inches; (B) 

 i-i8 X 0-98 inches; (C) 1-26 x 0-92 inches; (D) i-2 x 0-95 inches. Of two more distinct types 

 before me, one is of a dull asparagus green, freckled, spotted, and blotched with wood-brown, 

 with a few underlying bluish-grey markings; the other is of a greenish-grey ground colour 

 distinctly dotted and blotched wtih wood-brown and blackish-brown, the markings predominating 

 on the thicker end, and resembling a variety of the egg of Edolisoma tcnuirostre. Like Cnuticus 

 destructor, five eggs are sometimes laid for a sitting, and I received one of these unusual sets 

 taken by Mr. H. G. Barnard, on the 14th September 1893, at Duaringa in the Dawson River 

 District, Queensland. 



August and the four following months constitute the usual breeding season of the species in 

 Eastern Australia, but nests with eggs are more often found in New South Wales during 

 September and October. As will be seen by Mr. Carter's note, he took eggs of this species 

 inland from Point Cloates, in the north-western portion of the continent in July. 



Cracticus picatus. 



PIED BUTCHER-BIKD. 

 Cracticus picatus, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1848, p. 40; id., Bds. Austr., fol., Vol. II., pi. -50(1848); 

 id., Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. I., p. 181 (186.5); Gadow, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. VIII., 

 p. 96 (Subsp.); Sharpe, Hand-1. Bds., Vol. IV., p. 277 (1903). 

 Adult male— Zi/fce the adult male of Cracticus NiCiRir.uLARis, Gould, but smaller ; hill (of 

 skin) dark blue, lighter at the base of the upper mandible, blackish at the tip. Total length 11 inches, 

 iving Ij'l, tail 5, hill I'Jf, tarsns I'o. 



Distribution — Northern Territory of South Australia. 

 /T^HIS is a distinctly smaller form of Cracticus nigrigularis. The above description is taken 

 -L from a specimen obtained at Port Darwin, and kindly lent by the Trustees of the South 

 Australian Museum, Adelaide. In addition to its smaller size it may be furthermore distinguished 

 by the black on the underparts not e.xtending so low down on the chest. In this respect it is 

 similar to an adult male in the Australian Museum, collected by Mr. E. J. Cairn, near Derby, 

 North-western Australia in 1886, but the wing measurement is 6-8 inches. This specimen 

 appears to be intermediate between Cracticus nigrigularis and C. picatus, closely approaching 



