20 



GTMNORHININ.«. 



nape into an acute angled patch on the apical portion of the feather ; a broader submarginal 

 black bar on the upper tail coverts and the median series, of the upper wing-coverts brownish- 

 black with a broad tip and narrower shaft streak of light ochreous rufous ; on the foreneck is a 

 dark brown submarginal line on some of the feathers. Judging by its wing-measurement 6-3 

 inches, I take it to be the younger of the specimens. The fledgeling is almost similar in colour. 

 Writing from the Bloomfield River District, Mr. Frank Hislop remarks as follows: — "The 

 Black and the Brown Butcher-birds are very common here. They are more numerous in the 

 scrubs, mangrove flats, and swamps near the beach, but are often found in the open forest lands. 

 Frequently a black and a brown bird are seen together, and my opinion is that they belong to 

 one species, for their notes and habits are alike. Their food consists of lizards, frogs, insects, 

 and small birds, they are also very destructive to the eggs of other birds. The nest is formed 

 of sticks and lined with fibrous roots, and is generally built in the fork of a small tree at a height 

 from twelve to twenty feet from the ground, and often in one growing near the water. They 

 lay from two to four eggs for a sittmg, and nests with eggs have been taken from September to 

 December. The native name for these birds is 'Calboo'." 



Absolute proof of a combined rufous and black, or intermediate stage of plumage, is given 

 by Messrs. H. C. Robinson and W. S. Laverock who write as follow^s in "The Ibis"": — " It is 

 after very considerable hesitation, that we have come to the conclusion that all specimens of the 

 black Cradicus from Eastern Australia must be referred to C. nifcscciis, De \"is. This name, 

 however, is rather misleading, as it is only the young bird that is rufescent. In the course of 

 the last three months some thirty specimens have passed through our hands. Of these, three 

 have been in the plumage figured and described as C. rufcsccns. In one specimen, however, 

 several of the primaries were black, and in another the under wing-coverts were partially black. 

 We had called Mr. Olive's special attention to this point, and he assures us that the C. rufcsccns 

 in brown plumage sent from Bellender Ker was found associating with the black-plumaged birds, 

 and that he had no doubt whatever that they were one and the same species, as he has stated on 

 the label. The larger series of birds in black plumage present certain difficulties among them- 

 selves, some being less lustrous than others, and having the basal portion of the flank-feathers 

 greyer; but they cannot certainly be distinguished from the Port Essington and New Guinea 

 bird, which is, however, black in every stage of plumage." 



Messrs. Robinson and Laverock are undoubtedly correct in referring both the black as well 

 as the rufous species of Cracticiis inhabiting Eastern Queensland to Cracticiis rufcsccns, De \'is. 

 I have examined black e.xamples from many intermediate localities between Cape York and the 

 Herbert River, and rufous examples from the latter locality to the Endeavour River. Many 

 writers have regarded this black form inhabiting North-eastern Queensland as Cracticns quoyi. 

 Specimens of the latter now before me from the Laloki River, New Guinea may be distinguished 

 by their duller plumage, the wings, tail and under surface being brownish-black, the brighter 

 margins to the feathers on the upper parts are of a oil-green shade, and on the under surface, 

 except on the sides of the breast they are almost obsolete. The wings and tail of the birds from 

 North-eastern Queensland are darker than in C. quoyi, the margins of the feathers on the upper 

 parts are glossy blue-black ; and they are almost as pronounced on the under parts as they are 

 above. 



That this species is dimorphic in colour may be seen from the following information extracted 

 from notes received by me almost simultaneously. Writing from Goondi Plantation on the 

 Johnstone River, Queensland, Mr. E. H. Webb, remarks : — " I took several nests of Cracticus 

 quoyi vel rufcsccns last season (1904), the nests each contained three eggs, and the birds I saw at 

 them were all black. I noted a very few rufous birds about, they were always solitary, and I 



•The Ibis, 1900, p. 632. 



