CROW-LIKE BIRDS. 



65 



(The Ibis, 1896, p. 26), says: "When first I arrived 

 at Lahej in March, 1895, there was a large flock of 

 these birds in the neighbourhood. My attention was 

 attracted to them by their curious call and theiir non- 

 corvine look when on the wing, the latter due, I fancy, 

 to a shortness of tail and great breadth of wing near 

 the body, quite out of proportion to the size, as a 

 Crow. The whole flock disappeared in about a fort- 

 night, as, when I went out some days later to shoot 

 another specimen, not a single bird was to be seen." 



In The Ibis for 1898. p. 394, Mr. E. Lort Phillips 

 says : " This short-tailed Raven is extremely common 

 in Somaliland. from the sea-coast at Berbera to the 

 top of the Goolis. It is a persistent and most 

 fearless camp-follower, and is ever on the look-out far 

 scraps from the ^kitchen. It has a curious habit of 

 walking about with its beak wide open, as if greatly 

 affected by the heat." 



Mr. F. J. Jackson found the stomach of a female 

 which he examined "fuill of eggs and young birds" 

 (cf. The Ibi*. 1899, p. 588.) 



Messrs. Rothschild and Wollaston, when in the Sudan, 

 found this species " always very careful to keep out of 

 range of a gun." (The Ibis, 1902, p. 13.) 



Two specimens of this Crow arrived at the London 

 Zoological Gardens in July, 1880. They are recorded in 

 the list under the generic name of Corvvs. I should 

 have thought that this broad-winged, short-tailed, pro- 

 minently bristle-tufted-billed bird was generically dis- 

 tinct enough from the typical Grows. 



PIED CROW-SHRIKE (Strepera graculina}.* 



Glossy blue-iblack ; tail-feathers crossed at base by 

 a broad white band and tipped with white, more 

 broadly on the inner than outer welbs ; base of 

 primaries also white, forming a large speculum ; under 

 tail-coverts white; bill and feet black; irides yellow. 

 Female smaller than the male. (Hob., Australia. 



Gould says of this species (" Handbook," Vol. I., pp. 

 168, 169) : " It is very generally distributed over the 

 colony of New South Wales, inhabiting alike the brushes 

 near the coast, those of the mountain ranges, and 

 also the forests of Eucalypti which clothe the plains 

 and more open country. As a great pant of ite food 

 consists of seeds, berries, and fruits, it is more arboreal 

 in its habits than some of the other species of its group, 

 whose structure better adapts them for progression on 

 the ground, and whose food principally consists of 

 insects and their larvae. Like the other members of the 

 genus, it is mostly seen in companies, varying from 

 four to six in number, seldom either singly or in pairs. 

 I am not. however, inclined to consider them as gre- 

 garious birds in the- strict sense of the word, believing 

 as I do that each of these small companies is composed 

 of a pair and their progeny, which appear to keep 

 together from the birth of the latter until the natural 

 impulse for pairing prompts them to separate. 



" It is during flight that the markings of this bird 

 are displayed to the greatest advantage, and render it 

 a conspicuous object in the bush ; while on the wing it 

 utters a peculiar noisy cry, by which its presence is 

 often indicated. 



"The nest, which is usually constructed on the 

 branches of low trees, sometimes even on those of the 

 Casuarinic, is of a large size, round, open, and cup- 

 shaped, built with strlcks and lined with moss and 



* Dr. Sharpe places the so-called Crow-Shrikes amon? the 

 true Crowe, in which notion I presume he is correct. Gould 

 places them among the true Shrikes, together with the Piping- 

 Crows. 



grasses. The eggs, which I was not so> fortunate, aa 

 to procure, are said to be three- or four in number." 



A. J. North says (" Catalogue of Nests and Eggs," 

 p. 55) : "It constructs its nest in the forked branch of 

 a tree, usually a Eucalyptus or Casuarina; it is a 

 large, open, bawl-shaped structure, outwardly com- 

 posed of sticks, and lined with strips of bark and 

 grasses. Eggs three or four in number for a sitting, 

 of a paile chocolate-fbirown, with faint blotchings and 

 markings of reddish-Brown, in some instances a few 

 obsolete irregular-shaped spots of lilac appear as 

 beneath the surface of the shell. Length (A) 1.65 x 

 1.12 in. ; (B) 1.7 x 1-15 in. ; (C) 1.63 x 1-2 in. 



" The breeding season commences in August and lasts 

 during the three following months." 



This species first reached the London Zoological 

 Gardens in March, 1868; a second example was pur- 

 chased in July, 1869, and two others in May, 1873 ; one 

 was also received in exchange in May, 1887. 



HILL CROW-SHRIKE (Strepera arguta). 

 Dull blackish, browner at tips o*f wing-feaitlhers and 

 on sides of nectk ; wings black, primaries with a great 

 part of the inner web white; secondaries narrowly 

 tipped with white ; tail greyish externally, the feathers, 

 excepting the two central ones, broadly tipped 

 with white on the inner web and narrowly on the 

 outer one ; breast with narrow metallic shaft-sfareaks ; 

 under tail-coverts white; bill and feet black; corner 

 of mouth yellow ; irides orange-yellow. Female much 

 greyer than the male and with a shorter bill. Hab., 

 Tasmania. 



Gould observes (" Handbook," Vol. I., pp. 171, 172) : 

 " It is the largest, the boldest, and the most animated 

 species of the genus yet discovered. It is not strictly 

 gregarious, it is often seen in small companies of from 

 four to ten, and during the months oif winter even 

 a greater number aire to be seen congregated together. 

 The districts most suited to its habits are open glades 

 in the forest and thinly-tonfoered hills. Although it 

 readily perches on the trees, its natural resort is the 

 ground, for which its form is admliralbly adapted, and 

 over which it passes with amazing raipddity, either in a 

 succession of leaps or by running. Fruits being but 

 sparingly diffused over Australia, insects necessarily 

 constitute almost its sole food, and of these- nearlv 

 every order inhaibitating the surface of the ground 

 forms part of its diet ; grasshoppers are devoured with 

 great avidity. 



" Its note is a loud ringing and very peculiar sound, 

 somewhat resembling the words -clink, clink, several 

 times repeated, and strongly reminded me of the distant 

 sound of the strokes on a blacksmith's anvil ; and 

 hence the term arguta appeared to me to be an appro- 

 priate specific appellation for this new species. 



"All the nests I found of this species either con- 

 tained young birds or were without eggs ; I am conse- 

 quently' unable to give their size or colour. The 

 nest, which is of a large size, is generally placed on 

 a horizontal branch of a low tree; it is round, deep 

 and cup-shaped, outwardly formed of sticks and lined 

 with fibrous roots and other fine mateiria.ls." 



A J. North ("Catalogue of Nests and Esrgs," pp. 57, 

 58) says : " Eggs three for a sitting, of a light reddish 

 or buffy-brown ground colour, spotted or blotched with 

 markings of a darker tint; one specimen, B. is a 

 rounded -oval in form, and the markings are clouded 

 and not so well defined. Length (A) 1.78 x 1-18 m. ; 

 (B) 1.63x1-21 in.; (C) 1.64 x 1-22 in." 



"The months of September _ and October constitute 

 the breeding season of tihiis species." 



E 



