12 INSECTIVOROUS BIRDS 



MAGPIE-L&RK 



(Mud-Lark, Pe-wit), 



Grallina picata, Lath. 



Gra-Wna "pild-a-ia. 

 Grallce, stilts ; pica, a magpie. 



Grallina australis, Gould, "Birds of Australia," fol., vol. ii., 



pi. 54. 

 Geographical Distribution. — Areas 1 to 9 inclusive ; accidental 



in 5. 

 Key to the Species. —Breast black; under parts pure white; 



throat -vrhite in female, black in male ; upper surface black : 



bill broader than it is high ; second primary longer than the 



secondaries. 



It is a useful species, very broadly distributed. Fruit- 

 growers and market gardeners around Melbourne in 1896 

 received a very nice visit in force from this species. For 

 seasons previous and since it has visited us only in pairs, 

 and then few and far between. They came just before the 

 Wood-Swallows retired, and what the latter left the 

 former have been attentive to, preferring those kinds of 

 creeping things that are found in damp places. This so- 

 called Mud-Lark is greatly the life of the place, its " pe-wit " 

 always announcing its approach when on the wing. The 

 charm of the bird is best exhibited when gracefully walk- 

 ing by the green banks of the creeks or shallow ponds, but 

 the faery form peculiar to it is lost as the gentle crea- 

 ture leaves the earth for higher fields, when its flap and 

 heavy flight are totally different to what one would expect 

 from its manners upon the moist ground, where its black 

 and white plumage affords a most agreeable contrast. 

 Water in creeks and pools generally harbours " snails," 

 and where the latter are very often they prove the hosts of 



