WHITE-BACKED MAGPIE 



(White-backed Crow-Shrike), 



Gymnorhina leuconota, CJlcl. 



Jim-nd-Tind lu-ko-no la. 

 Gumvo'^, naked ; rliinus, nostril ; leuJcos, white ; noton, back. 



Gymnorhina leuconota, Gould, "Birds of Australia," fol., 

 vol. ii., pi, 47. 



GEOCiRAPHiCAL DISTRIBUTION.— Areas 4, 6. 



Key to the Species. — Adult male — Whole of back pure white, like 

 neck and rump ; throat and breast black ; bill pointed and 

 slightly hooked ; nostrils bare of feathers, and placed about the 

 middle of the bill (longitudinal slit). 



Adult female — Similar to the male ; back not so white. 

 Young — Whole of back clouded with grey. 



Under the sub family Gymnorhinae of the Laniidas or 

 " Crow-Shrikes " there are tliirteen species recorded for 

 Australia and Tasmania. Of these only four belong to the 

 genus Gymnorhina — one of which, G. hyj^erleuca, occurs in 

 Tasmania ; a second, G. dorsalis, in Western Australia • 

 while the remaining two, our common magpies, are to he 

 found widely distributed over the Australian continent. 

 It is witli these two — the Black-backed {G. tibicen) and 

 the White-backed {G. leuconota) — Victoria is concerned. 

 Though it may seem strange, the former keeps principally 

 to the north of the Dividing Range, and the latter to the 

 south. Magpies are not always gregarious. They mate for 

 life, and families of two to five are generally to be seen as 

 if governing each a small area. Sometimes a pair, or the 

 occupiers of a block, will not breed for a year, but they join 



