PIPING CROWS. 



77 



small twigs in a thick bush at about two feet above the 

 ground. Usually four eggs represent a clutch, they are 

 brick red with darker spots. 



Reiche, of Alfeld, imported this Jay in 1886, but it 

 had previously reached the Amsterdam Gardens in 

 1881. In 1887 Miss Hagenbeck exhibited a pair at the 

 show of the " Ornis " Society in Berlin. 



TEICOLOTJBEI> JAY (Uroleuca cyanoleuca). 



Above mostly rich violet, but the mantle and back 

 violaceous brown; inner webs of primaries and outer 

 secondaries blackish-brown ; edges of primaries dull 

 blue; apical half of tail pure white; head and neck 

 brown; a prominent recurved frontal crest; lores, 

 orbital feathers, and cheeks dark brown; under surface 

 from neck backwards creamy white; under wing- 

 coverts white ; edge of wing blue ; bill and feet black ; 

 irides greyish-brown. Hab., Brazil. 



According to Burmeister (" Systematische Ueber- 

 sicht," Vol. III., p. 286): "Not rare on the Campos 

 region of inner Brazil ; yet one sees this (bird only 

 singly in the open scrub of the Campos serrados, where 

 it comes quite close to the settlements, yet does not 

 lightly adventure into the gardens." 



This is all I have been able to discover respecting 

 the wild life of the species. It Teached the Zoological 

 Gardens of Amsterdam in 1872; tout otherwise seems 

 not to have been imported. 



Dr. Sharpe includes the genus Struthidia in this 

 family; but, following the Zoological Society's List,, I 

 have already dealt with it under the expansive assem- 

 blage forming the family C rateropodidce. 



WHITE-WINGED CHOUGH (Corcorax melanorhamphus). 



Sooty black, slightly purplish ; flights with greenish 

 gloss on outer webs ; inner webs of primaries, excepting 

 at 'base and tip, white ; bill and feet black ; irides 

 scarlet Female smaller than male. Hab., Australia. 



Gould observes (" Handibook of Birds of Australia," 

 Vol. I., pp. 470-472): "This bird is distributed over 

 all parts of New South Wales and South Australia ; it 

 is very abundiant in the whole of the Upper Hunter 

 district, I killed it in the interior of South Australia; 

 and Mr. Elsey met with it at the edge- of a dense scrub 

 on the Burdtekin in lat. 19 30' S. It usually occurs in 

 small troops of from six to ten in number, feeding 

 upon the ground, over which it runs with considerable 

 rapidity. In disposition it is extremely tame, readily 

 admitting of a very close approach, and then merely 

 flying off to the low branch of some neighbouring tree. 

 During flight the white> marking of the wing shews 

 very conspicuously, and on alighting the bird displays 

 many curious actions, leaping from branch to branch 

 with surprising quickness, at the eame time spreading 

 the tail and moving it up and down in a very singular 

 manner; on being disturbed it peeps and pries down 

 upon the intruder below, and generally utters a harsh, 

 grating, disagreeable and tart note; at other times, 

 while perched among the (branches of the trees, it 

 makes the woodsi ring with its peculiar .soft, low, very 

 pleasing but mournful pipe. 



" During the pairing-season the male becomes very 

 animated, and his manners so remarkalble that it would 

 be necessary for my readers to> witness the bird in its 

 native wilds to form a just conception of them ; while 

 sitting on the same branch close to the fern-ale, he 

 spreads out his wings and tail to the fullest extent, 

 lowers his head, puffs out his feathers, and displays him- 

 self to the utmost advantage, and when two or more 

 are engaged in these evolutions, the exhibition cannot 

 fail to amuse and delight the spectator. A winged 



specimen gave me more trouble to catch than any other 

 bird I ever chased ; its power of passing over the 

 ground) being so great, that it bounded on before me and 

 cleared very obstacle, hillocks and fallen trees with 

 the greatest facility. 



" The white- winged 1 Corcorax ig a very early breeder, 

 and generally rears more than one brood in a year, the 

 breeding-iseason extending over the months of August, 

 September, Ototober, and November. The 1 nest is a 

 most conspicuous fabric, composed of mud and straw, 

 resembling, a bason, and is usually placed on the hori 

 zontal branch of a tree near to or overhanging a brook. 

 The eggs vary from four to seven in number,, and are 

 of a yellowish white, boldly blotched all over with 

 olive and purplish brown, the latter tint appearing as if 

 beneath the surface of the shell ; they are one inch and 

 a half long by one inch and one line broad. 



"It has often struck me that more than one female 

 deposited her eggs in the same nest, as four or five 

 females may be frequently seen either on tEe same or 

 the neighbouring trees, while only one nest is to be 

 found. 



"The bird generally evinces a preference for open 

 forest land, 'but during 'the breeding season affects the 

 neighbourhood of brooks and 1 lagoons, which may be 

 accounted for by the fact of such situations being neces- 

 sary to enable it to procure the mud to build its nest, 

 besides which they also afford it an abundance of insect 

 food." 



The London Zoological Gardens secured its first speci- 

 men of this species in May, 1866, and two others in June, 

 1875. The Amsterdam Gardens acquired it in 1865 ; 

 Reiche, of Alfeld, imported it in 1893 and 1894, and it 

 reached the Berlin Gardens in 1895. 



I have not included the Huia Bird (Heteralocha 

 acutirostris) , from,' New Zealand, as it is now not very 

 likely to come into the market. Formerly there was a 

 specimen at the London Gardens, deposited there by the 

 late Sir Walter Buller. 



The Piping and Butcher Crows are now usually re- 

 ferred to the neighbourhood of the Shrikes ; but it is 

 more convenient to follow the list of the Zoological 

 Society, and place them at the end of the present family. 

 Their general aspect is far more Crow-like than Shrike- 

 like, and, as we well know, the Piping Crows are recog- 

 nised in their native country as Magpies. 



Piping Crows, etc. (Gymnorhinince). 



These are birds of considerable bulk, with long, some- 

 what cylindrical, tapering bills of great strength. In 

 the males the bills are very much longer and propor- 

 tionally more slender than in the females, as I have 

 proved by the examination of a series of partially sexed 

 skins. I am also inclined to believe that, although it 

 may be possible for old wild hens sometimes to assume 

 the male dress (even as in captivity they sometimes fail 

 to lose the spotted juvenile plumage), the normal colour- 

 ing of the sexes of adult birds differs considerably. I 

 base this opinion upon the fact that, whereas in skins 

 which had been sexed when prepared by the collector 

 all the undoubted females differed in length of bill and 

 colouring from the males ; in all the unsexed specimens, 

 if separated by either character, the same individuals 

 came together. 



The Piping Crows are principally ground-feeders, like 

 our Rooks; their food consists chiefly of grasshoppers 

 and' other insects, supplemented by small fruits and' 

 benries ; in ca>ptivity, however, they will eat raw meat, 

 mice, and dead birds in addition to other food ; there- 

 fore it is probable that in their wild state they, like 



