FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



the true Crows, sometimes devour the eggs and young 

 of other birds. 



Common Piping Crow (Gymnorhina tibicen). 



" Crown of the head, cheeks, throat, back, all the 

 under sui'faue, .scapularies, secondaries, priniiU'ies, and 

 tipis of the tail feathere black; wing-coverte, nape of 

 the neck, upper and imder tail-coverts, and base of the 

 tail feathers white ; 'bill, bluish ash-coloiir at the base, 

 passing into 'black ait the tip ; irides rich reddish hazel ; 

 legs black." (Gould.) 



This 06 a deecrij>tion of the m'ale, 'but the fact that 

 the black of the upjjer pai-te has a bluish, and that of 

 the under parts a greenish, gloss is not mentioned. 



In the British Museum catalogue Dr. Hans Oadow 

 de.iicribes what he thinks may ibe a yoiniger specimen, 

 •having "the neck-patch less distinct, the feathers on 

 the hinder part mottled with black ; feathers of the 

 tack ^rith white edgings ; rump feathers with black 

 bases, only the tips being white, producing a strongly 

 mottled appearance." Yet he describee the young bird 

 as having the "top of the head, ivings, and terminal 

 part of the tail bro«mish-bIack ; the feathers of the back 

 blackish, narrowly tipped with grey ; the whole imder 

 surface of the body brown, mottled with darker brown 

 and whitish " ; so that the supposed •' yomiger speci- 

 men " is neither like the adult cock nor the young bird. 

 Is it safe to assume, from an examination of eight skins, 

 (one of which is undoubtedly young), that tlie sexes of 



White-b.u'ked Piping Crow. 

 Head of female. 



this bird do not differ? Hab., New South Wales and 

 N. Australia, excepting the coast. 



In its -Nvild state this Piping Crow frequents open 

 tracts of country, particularly when skirted by belts of 

 trees, in the foa-ics of the bi-ancbes of which it constructs 

 its nest. I>r. Ramisay says that the latter is a large 

 open structure of sticks and twigs lined with grass and 

 hair. The eggs are three or four in number, and, 

 according to Mr. Kortli, are ven- variable, being usually 

 green or blue, spotted and streaked with various shades 

 of reddish-brown and lilac ; but sometimes they are dull 

 dark brown, dotted all over with daiker brown, and 

 sometimes " brownish-wliite, with spots and daslies of 

 wood-'hrown tinged with lilac and obsolete lilac spots 

 at the lairger end." 



The favourite food of this bird, in a state of freedom, 



consists of locusts and grasshoppers, but in captivity all 

 kinds of anim'al food are accepted. My friend Mr. 

 Housden had a fine male for many years wliich had a. 

 good-sized aviai'y to itself — indeed, I do 'not tliink any 

 other bii'd could safely be associated with it. It OB 

 imported fairly frequently, but is never very cheap. 

 The London Zoological Society first acquired it in May, 

 1888, and has seciu'ed various other specimejis since, 

 the la.st recorded in Vol. IX. of the " List of Animals" 

 having been presented in ilarch, 1895. 



The notes of this and the allied species are singularly 

 clear, loud, and .musical ; in this re.«-))ect they differ a 

 good deal from oiu- native Crows, although some of the 

 latter can be trained to whistle well. 



White-e.vcked Piping Crow (Gi/iiiii'>rhiiia Icuconota). 



This bird is tolerably nearly allied to the preceding, 

 but differs in the male having the whole back pure 

 white, like the neck and rump; the bill is bluish-lilac, 

 fliading into black towards the tip; feet blackish-grey; 

 irides light hazel. 



The female, in my opinion, is represented by speci- 

 mens with shorter, 'stouter bills and greyieli neck and 

 back. These are generally described as young birds, 

 but a very old female, of which I have the skin (the 

 sex was conclusively proved by dissection), not only 

 has the nape and back grey, but mottled likea young 

 bird; moreover, the grey colouring is always found, in 

 every example whioh I "have examined, in conjunction 

 «ith the shorter and stouter bill. 



The voung bird is brownish-black where the adults 

 are black, tlie back being greyish 

 and spotted with white, the lowei- 

 parts of the abdnmen whitish, 



Hans Gadow regai-ds (j. organica 

 = Iii/pohura (Tasmanian Piping 

 Crow) as a smaller race of the 

 same species, and (iould says of it 

 that " the female differs in having 

 the nape of the neck and hack 

 grey, and tlie primaries and tips 

 of the tail feathers brownish- black (" Handbook of the 

 irds of Australia," Vol. I., p. 179), thus confiiTning my 

 view of the sexual differences. Hab., South Aus- 

 tralia, Victoria, New South Wales, and Tasmania. 



The habits and food of this species are similar to those 

 of the common Piping Crow. It breeds from August 

 to October, constructing a large and deep cup-shaped 

 nest, formed esternally of sticks and lined with twigs, 

 grasses, and cow-hair, and' placed in the fork of a tree, 

 -sometimes at a con.siderable height from the ground in 

 a eucalyptus, at other times in a sapling at about 20ft. 

 altitude; Mr. North even took the nest at 10ft. from 

 the gi-ound. Three eggs are laid, varying from bluish 

 or greenish white to apple-green, streaked, spotted, or 

 smudged with reddish-brown or wood'-bix)wn, but some- 

 times mmutely speckled all over with pale reddish. 



According to Gould, this hird is more shy than the 

 common Whistling Crow. 



Though imported pretty regularly, it is never very 

 cheap. The Zoological Society of London acquired two 

 exaniple»« in 1852 ; in 1863 ten specimens were deposited 

 at the Gardens, and two of the Tasmanian race were 

 presented ; in 1866 a specimen of the typical form was 

 deposited, and in 1869 a specimen of the Tasmanian 

 race, and sinoe that date over a score of specimens have 

 been added to the menagerie, the latest recorded in the 

 ninth edition of the "List, of Animals" having been 

 presented in 1895. 



