140 RECORDS OF THE AUSTRAT.TAN MUSEUM. 



Cracticus destrcctor. 



Butcher-bird. 



Vauga destructor, Temm. Man. d'Orn., pt. i., p. lix. 



Cractlriis destructor, Gould, Bds. Ansfr., fo]., ii., pi. 52 (1848) ; 

 Gadow, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mas., viii., p. 100 (1883) ; North, 

 Nests and Eg'gs Austr. Bds., 2nd. ed., ii., pt. i., p. 9 

 (1906). 



Cracticus torquatus, Gould, Handbk. Bds. Austi'., i., p. 184 

 (1865). 



Isolated pairs were noted at Coolabah, at some half to three 

 quarters of a mile apart. As usual they were i^emarkably 

 war}', keeping chiefly to the higher Eucalypti, and their 

 melodious notes were more often heard — especially in the 

 early morning — than the birds wei-e seen. They were less 

 frequently observed at Brewarrina. The Butcher-bird will 

 often destroy, or attempt to withdi'aw Canaries from their cages. 



Cracticds nigrigularis. 



Black-throated Butcher-bird. 



VioiijK n'ujroijalttris, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1836, p. 143. 



Cracticus tiiiinniuliiri.--, Gould, Bds. Austr., fob, ii., pi. 491 

 (1848);"/'/*., Handbk. Bds. Austr., i., p. 180 (1865). 



Cracticus viijritjidaris, Gadow, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., viii., p. 95 

 (1883)"; North, Nests and Eggs Austr. Bds., 2nd. ed., ii., 

 pt. i., p. 14 (1906). 



Only two pairs noted, one at Coolabah, the other while on 

 the way fi'om Brewari'ina to Tarrion Creek. At the former 

 place while sitting alone quietly in a garden, conti'ary to their 

 usual custom, one of tliese birds came and perched on a fence 

 within ten feet of me. The cleai' and prolonged musical notes 

 of the male are among the richest and most beautiful of those 

 of any of our Australian arboreal birds and can be heard a 

 considerable distance away. Like the two preceding species, 

 the Black-throated Butcher-bird, amongst othei- food eaten, 

 preys much on the sn)aller birds. 



