18 GYMNORHININ*. 



in size the former, but with the less amount of black on the chest as in C. picatus. The wing 

 measurement of an adult male of Cracticus iiigrigiilaris, obtained by Mr. George Masters, in 

 September, 1870, at Gayndah, Burnett River, Queensland, is but slightly larger than the Derby 

 example, measuring 6-g inches, but the black feathers extend right on to the upper portion of the 

 breast. The size of this species apparently agrees with the ordinary rule, that from the farther 

 north they are found the smaller the birds. 



.\n egg of Cracticus picatus taken on the 22nd October, 1898, by Mr. E. Olive, near the 

 Katherine River, in the Northern Territory of South Australia, and kindly lent by Dr. Charles 

 Ryan of Melbourne, is oval in form and tapering somewhat sharply towards the smaller end, 

 the ground colour being a pale olive-brown, which is finely dotted, spotted, and boldly blotched 

 on the larger end with different shades of olive, umber, and blackish-brown ; over the remainder 

 of the shell are uniformly distributed very fine dots and one or two blotches of umber brown. 

 Length 1-27 x o'y2 inches. It is represented on Plate B VUL, fig. 10. 



Cracticus rufescens. 



RUFOUS OR BLACK CROW SHRIKE. 

 Cracticus quoyi, (juv.)'! Ramsay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.VV., Vol. II., p. 375 (1878). 



Cracticus rufescens, De Vis, Proc. Linn. See, N.S.W., Vol. VII., p. 562 (1883): Sharpe, Bds. New. 

 Guin., Vol. IIL, pi 16 (1888) ; North, Proc. Linn. Soc, 2nd Ser. Vol. XXII., p. 56 (1897) ; 

 Rothsch., Ibis, 1900, p. 374 ; Robins, and Laver., Ibis. 1900, p. 632. 



Adult (Dimorphic) — Forehead, croirn of the head, nape, hind-neck and centre of the xipper hack 

 black, each feather with a rufous shaft streak, tvhich widens out considerably on the 7iape and hind- 

 neck; lower back and rump dull broivn with a narrow rufotis shaft stripe and a broad indistinct tip 

 of ochreous-hrotvn ; upper tail-coverts oclireous-rufous., ivith a ivell defined sub-marginal black bar ; 

 scapulars and lesser iving-coverts oclireous-brown, with broken blackish-brown crossbars; median and 

 greater coverts blackish-brown, centered and broadly tipped tvith ochreous-rufuus ; quills brown, 

 margined with light rufous; tail feathers light rufotis, washed with dusky-brown on both webs of the 

 central pair and on the outer ivebs of the remainder, becoming less pronounced toivards the lateral 

 feathers; lores, feathers below the eye and the ear-coverts dull rufous with an indistinct whitish shaft- 

 streak; throat and all the under surface pale buffy-brown washed with rufous on the sides of the chest, 

 where some of the feathers are submarginally edged tvith dark brown; under tail-coverts light rufous; 

 bill bluish-horn colour, blackish at the tip; legs and feet dark lead colour; iris hrotvn. Total length 

 13 inches, wing 6-7, tail 5'7, bill 2, tarsus 1'6. 



Others liavp the plumage entirely black, the feathers of tJie liead and upper and under parts 

 having glossy bluish-black margins, less distinct on tlie abdomen. 



Distribution — North-eastern Queensland. 

 / |(^HE range of Cracticus rufescens extends throughout the coastal scrubs of North-eastern 

 J- Queensland, from Cape York in the north to the Herbert River in the south. Dr. 

 Ramsay first drew attention to this bird at a meeting of the Linnean Society of New South 

 Wales, in November 1877, but stated that he believed it to be the young of Cracticus quoyi. After 

 describing it, he added the following note : — " The only thing in favour of this bird being a distinct 

 species is the fact that on six different occasions some of our best taxidermists have collected 

 during the whole season in districts in which C. quoyi is plentiful, without once having met with 

 any bird in a similar stage of plumage." Subsequently, Mr. C. W. De Vis, M.A., described it as a 

 new species, under the name of Cracticus rufescens, from specimens also obtained by Mr. Broadbent 



