PII'INC CKiiWS. 



77 



small twi^ in a thick bush at about two feet above the 

 ground. Usually four eggs represent a chitah, they are 

 lii-ick red with darker simts. 



Reicho, of Alfeld, imported this Jay in 1886, but it 

 had previously reached the Amsterdam GaixWns iu 

 1881. In 1887 Miss Hagenbeck exlvibitcd a pair at the 

 .^how of the " Ornis " Society in Berlin. 



Tricolovrkd Jay [i'ruteuca cyanoleuca). 

 Above mostly rich violet, but the mantle and back 

 violaceous brown; inner webs of primaries and outer 

 .secondaries blackishJbrown ; edges of primaries dull 

 blue; apical half of tail pure white; head and neck 

 brown ; a prominent recurved frontal crest ; lores, 

 orbital feathers, and cheeks dark browm ; under surface 

 from neck backwards creamy white ; under wing- 

 covei-ts wliite ; edge of wing blue ; bill and feet black ; 

 irides greyish-brown. Hab., Brazil. 



According to Burmeister (" Systematisehe Ueber- 

 sicbt," Vol. III., p. 286); — "Not rare on the Campos 

 ixjgion of inner Brazil ; yet one sees tliis ibird only 

 .singly in the open scrub of the Campos serradcs, where 

 it comes quite close to the settlements, yet does not 

 lightly adventure into the gardens." 



This is all I have been able to discover respecting 

 the wild life of tlie species. It readied the Zoological 

 Gardens of Amsterdam in 1872 ; but ctlierwise seems 

 not to have been imported. 



Dr. Sharpe includes the genus Slruthidia in this 

 family; but, following the Zoological Society's List,, I 

 have already dealt with it under the expansive assem- 

 blage forming the family C rateropodidce. 



White-winued Chough [Corcorax melanorhamphus). 

 Sooty black, slightly purplish ; flights with gi-eeaiish 

 gloss on outer webs ; inner webs of primai-ies, excepting 

 at base and tip, white ; bill and feet black ; irides 

 scarlet. Female smaller than male. Hab., Australia. 

 Gould observes ('" Handbook of Birds of Australia," 

 Vol. I., pp. 470-472) :— "This bird is distributed over 

 all p:vrts of New South Wales and South Australia ; it 

 is very abundant in the whole of the Upper Hunter 

 district, I killed it in the interior of South Australia; 

 and Mr. Elsey met with it at tlie edge of a den.se scrub 

 on the Burdekin in lat. 19° 30' S. It usually occurs in 

 small troops of from six to ten in number, feeding 

 upon the gi'ound, over which it runs mth considerable 

 rapidity. In disposition it is extremely tanre, readily 

 admitting of a very close approach, and then merely 

 flying off to the low branch of some neighbouring tree. 

 I )uring flight the white marking of the wing shews 

 very conspicuously, and on alighting the bird displays 

 many cmioiis actions, leaping fi'om branch to brancli 

 with surprising quickness, at the eame time spreading 

 tlie tail and moving it up and down in a very singular 

 manner; on lieing disturbed it peeps and pries down 

 upan the intruder below, and generally utters a harsh, 

 grat ing. d isagreeable and tart note ; at other times, 

 while i>erche<l among the ibranches of the trees, it 

 makes the w'ocds ring witli its peculiar soft, low, very 

 pleasing but mouniful pipe. 



" During the ixiiring-season the male becomes very 

 animated, and his manners so remarkalble that it would 

 lie necessary for my readers to witne.«s the bird in it.s 

 native wilds to form a just conception of them ; while 

 Kitting on the sajme branch close to the female, ho 

 spreads out his wings and fail to the fullest extent, 

 Iffwers his head, puffs cut his feathers, and di-splays him- 

 .<elf to the utmost advantage, and when two or more 

 are engaged in these evolutions, the exhibition cannot 



fail to amuse and delight the spectator. A winged 



specimen gave me more ti-ouble to oatch than any other 

 bird I ever chased ; its power of passing over the 

 ground' being so gi'eat, that it bounded on before me and 

 cleared every obstacle, hillocks and fallen trees with 

 tlie greatest facility. 



" The white-winged Corcorax is a veiy early breeder, 

 and generally reai-s more than one brood in a year, the 

 breeding-season extending over the montlis of August, 

 September, Qictober, and November. The nest is' a 

 most conspicuous faibric, composed of mud and straw, 

 resembling, a bason, and is usually placed on the hori 

 zontal branch of a U-ee near to or overhanging a brook. 

 The eggs vary from four to seven in number, and are 

 of a yellowisli white, boldly blotched all over with 

 olive and pui-plish brown, the latter tint api>earing as if 

 beneath the surface of the shell ; tliey are one inch and 

 a lialf long by one inch and one line broad. 



" It has often struck me that anore than one female 

 deposited her eggs in the same nest, as four or five 

 females may be firequently seen either on tSe same or 

 the neighbouring trees, while only one nest is to be 

 found. 



" The bird generally evinces a preference for open 

 forest land, bnt during the breeding season affects the 

 neighbourhood of brooks and lagoons, which may be 

 accounted for by tlie fact of such situations being neces- 

 sary to enable it to pi-ocure the mmd to build its nest, 

 besides which they also afford it an abundance of insect 

 food." 



The London Zoological Gardens secured its first speci- 

 men of this species in May, 1866, and two others in June, 

 1875, The Amsterdam Gardens acquired it in 1865 ; 

 Eeiche, of Alfeld, imported it in 1893 and 1894, and it 

 reached the Berlin Gardens in 1895. 



I have not included the Huia Bird {Heteraloc?ia 

 acufirnstris). from New Zealand, as it is now not very 

 likely to come into the market. Formerly there was a 

 specimen at the London Gardens, deposited there by the 

 iate Sir Walter Buller. 



The Piping and Butcher Crows are now usually re- 

 feiTcd to the neighbourhood of the Shi-ikes ; but it is 

 moi'e convenient to follow the list of the Zoological 

 Society, and place tliem at the end of the present family. 

 Their general aspect is far more Crow-like than Shrike- 

 like, and, as we well know, the Piping Crows are recog- 

 nised in their native country as Magpies. 



Piping Crows, etc. (Gi/mnorhinime). 



These are birds of considerable bulk, with long, some- 

 what cylindrical, tapering bills of great strength. In 

 the males the bills are very much longer and propor- 

 tionally more slender than in the females, as I have 

 proved by the examination of a series of partially sexed 

 slcins. I am also inclined to believe that, although it 

 may be possible for old wild hens sometimes to assume 

 the male dress (even as in captivity they sometimes fail 

 to lose the spotted juvenile plumage), the normal colour- 

 ing of the sexes of adult birds differs considerably. I 

 base this opinion upon the fact that, whereas in skins 

 which had been sexed when prepared by the collector 

 all the undoubted females differed in length of bill and 

 colouring from the males ; in all the unsexed specimens, 

 if separated by either character, the same individuals 

 came together. 



The Piping Crows are principallv ground-feeders, like 

 our Rooks ; their food consists chiefly of grasshoppera 

 and other insects, supplemented by small fruits and 

 berries ; in ca-ptivity, however, they will eat raw meat, 

 mice, and dead birds in addition to other food ; there- 

 fore it is probable that in their wild state they, like 



