AN AUSTRALIAN BIRD BOOK. 149 



10 315*Gray Shrike-Thrush (Harmonious), Gray (Native) 



10 Thrush, Pluff, Mourner, Colluricincla harmonica, 

 E.A., S.A. Stat. c. timber 9.5 



Gray; back umber-brown; face whitish; under lighter; 



f., throat streaked dusky. Insects. Powerful swelling 



harmonious note. 



F. 133. Aerocharidae, 1 sp. E. (Madagascar). 



F. 134. LANIIDAE (42), SHRIKES, 313 sp.— 134 (132) A., 



36(22)0., 33(10)P., 140(127)E., 6(6)Nc, 1(1)N1. 



5 316 Black-backed Magpie, Piping Crow-Shrike (Varied), 



5 Organ (Flute) Bird, Singing White Crow (e), Gym- 



norhina tibicen, E.A., S.A., W.A. Stat. v.c. open 17 

 Black; hind-neck, upper under base tail, patch on wing 

 white; f., grayish instead of white. Insects. "To 

 describe the note of this bird is beyond the power of 

 my pen." (Gould.) "Wonderfully modulated whistle 

 . . . . unequalled among European birds." (Alfred 

 Russel Wallace). 

 317 White-backed Magpie (Crow-Shrike), G. leuconota, 



N.S.W., V., S.A., C.A., W.A. Stat. v.c. open 18 



Upper white, except head, tip-tail, wing-quills black; under 

 black; f., back gray. Insects. Glorious carol, see 316. 

 8 318 Black-throated Butcher-Bird (Crow-Shrike), Crac- 



11 ticus nigrigularis, A. exc. N. Ter. 



Stat. v.r. timber 13.5 

 Head, neck, chest black; hind-neck, centre-wing, rump, 

 under white; tail black, side tipped white; f., sim. 

 Insects, mice. One of the best of songsters, rich notes. 

 319*Australian Butcher-Bird (Shrike), Collared Crow- 

 Shrike, Derwent (Tasmanian, Whistling) Jackass, 

 Durbaner, G. destructor, E.A., S.A., W.A. 



Stat. v.c. timber 11.2 

 Head, neck black; back gray; side hind-neck, upper base 

 tail, patch on wing white; under grayish- white; f., 

 duller. Insects, mice, birds. Fine song (autumn) ; 

 rich notes. 



Placed by Sharpe in the same family are the Shrike-Thrushes, 

 strictly Australian birds. The glorious "powerful swelling 

 notes" of our common bird caused Latham to bestow the well- 

 deserved name harmonica on it. Yet there are some who talk 

 of Australia as a land of songless birds. This falsehood seems 

 to have had its origin in a note written by Caley, who, about 

 1825, collected near Sydney, for the Linnean Society of London. 

 As quoted by North, he said, "They (Superb-Warblers) are good 

 songsters, and, I may say, almost the only ones in the colony." 

 Fortunately, the Harmonious Shrike-Thrush is becoming com- 

 mon and tame about school grounds and most towns. It is 

 occasionally to be heard in the Melbourne Botanic Gardens. 



Family 134 contains the famous Shrikes, those birds which are 

 said to keep a butcher's shop. Not being "birds of prey," they 



