52 COLE, Variations in the Black-hacked Magpie. U^^J^^ 



Birds of the species under review in the W angaratta district 

 nest chiefly in the eiicalypt trees. After a mated pair has 

 selected a locaHty for a nesting site, they, at times, pugnaciously 

 defend the right of ownership to the area selected by attacking 

 all and sundry who dare to intrude upon their ])reserve. Their 

 viciousness is more pronounced from the time their young 

 are hatched until they leave the nest. Tiiis species remain 

 mated until one or the other dies. If the female bird happens 

 to be killed, the male will select another mate, and often return 

 to the old locality to breed. I have known one of these birds, 

 whilst nesting, inflict a nasty wound upon the neck of a lad 

 passing by. I had under observation a pair of these birds, that 

 were iniilding, and found the female lying upon the roadside dead, 

 pr(>l)ablv shot by a passing gunman, l^ecause of her pugnacious 

 habit of darting on one unawares. The male of the deceased female 

 was conspicuousl}- marked upon the back, and readily recognised. 

 Within a montli. he had remated. and a nest was built adjacent to 

 the first nest, in the same tree. Another pair of birds built in a 

 red gum sapling upon the bank of a creek for years. I'he sap- 

 ling was ring-barked, and became defoliated, eventually dying, 

 but this did not drive the pair away from the old nesting site. 

 They still continue to build in the dead tree, the last nest being 

 built in the spring of 1920. After the breeding season is over,, 

 these birds usually move about in numbers. 



To carry out my observations, I selected each breeding season, 

 certain birds nesting, and kej^t them under observation, my chief 

 object being to study the feather markings upon their progeny. 



To show that the future adult markings ui)on tlie young of 

 this species is readily recogni.-ed in the immature stage, 1 give 

 for those persons not accpiainted with this bird tlie following 

 brief description. The general a])pearance of the young upon 

 leaving the nest is blackish, each feather margined greyish (be- 

 coming glossy ijlack in the adult). Hind neck slate grey; upper, 

 under base tail, patch on wing white (pure white in adult male, 

 and greyish-white in adult female). These markings upon the 

 young male are more pronounced than those of the young female, 

 riic male is readily recognised in the nesting stage from the 

 female bird in tiiis, that it is readily seen, that tlie change from the 

 immature to the adult plumage is purelv a matter of the darker 

 markings becoming black, and the lighter markings white, or 

 greyish. Thus if a nestling had a sooty black back, each feather 

 margined with grey, the adult plumage would be a pure black 

 back marking male or female; see I'ig. A. If a sooty black 

 back, with patches of slate-grey feathers, the adult plumage 

 would be a pure black back marking, with pure wliite, or greyish, 

 feathers, as depicted in l-'igs. 1*. and C If the back was slate- 

 grev. or mostly so, the adult ]>lumage would he as in Figs. I), E. 



