78 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



the true Crows, sometimes devour the eggs and young 

 of other birds. 



COMMON PIPING CHOW (','// //,//^/7i hia tibicen). 



" Crown of the head, cheeks, throat, back, all the 

 under surface, scapularies, secondaries, primaries, and 

 tips of the tail feathers black; wing-coverts, nape of 

 the neck, upper and under tail-coverts, and base of the 

 tail feathers white ; bill, bluish ash-colour at the base, 

 gassing- into black at the tip ; irides rich reddish hazel; 

 legs black." (Gould.) 



This is a description of the male, 'but the fact that 

 the black of the upper parts has a bluish, and that of 

 the under parts a greenish, gloss is not mentioned. 



In the British .Museum catalogue Dr. Hans Gadow 

 describee what he thinks may lie a younger specimen, 

 having "the neck-patch less distinct, the feathers on 

 the hinder part mottled with black; feathers of the 

 Lack with white edgings ; rump feathers with black 

 bases, only the tips being white, producing a strongly 

 mottled appearance." Yet he describes the young bird 

 as having the "top of the head, wings, and terminal 

 part of the tail brownish-black ; the feathers of the back 

 blackish, narrowly tipped Avith grey; the whole under 

 surface of the body brown, mottled with darker brown 

 and whitish"; so that the supposed "younger speci- 

 men " is neither like the adult cock nor the young bird. 

 Is it safe to assume, from an examination of eight skins, 

 (one of which is undoubtedly young), that the sexes of 



WHITE-BACKED PIPING CHOW. 



Head of JC//KI/C. 



this bird do not differ'.' Hal)., New South Wales and 

 N. Australia, excepting the coast. 



In its wild state this Piping Crow frequents open 

 tracts of country, particularly when skirted by belts of 

 trees, in the forks of the branches of -which it constructs 

 its nest. Dr. I'amsay says that the latter is a large 

 open structure of sticks and twigs lined with grass and 

 hair. Tlic I'ugs are three or four in number, and, 

 according to Mr. Xorth, are very variable, bring usually 

 i or blue, spotted and streaked with various shades 

 of reddish-brown and lilac; but sometimes they are dull 

 dark brown, dotted all over with darker brown, and 

 sometimes " brownish-white, with spots and dashes of 

 wood-brown tinged with lilac and obsolete lilac spots 

 at the larger end." 



The favourite food of this bird, in a state of freedom, 



consists of locusts and grasshoppers, but in captivity all 

 kinds of anim'al food are accepted. My friend * Mr. 

 Housden had a fine male for many years' which had a 

 good-sized aviary to itself indeed, I do not think any 

 <'th<.-r bird could safely be associated with it. It is 

 imported fairly frequently, but is never very cheap. 

 The London Zoological Society first acquired it" in. May, 

 1888. and has sivnred various other specimens since, 

 the last recorded in Vol. IX. of the " List of Animals " 

 having been presented in March, 1895. 



The notes of this a'nd the allied species are singularly 

 clear, loud, and .musical ; in this respect they differ a 

 i;ood deal from our native Crows, although some of the 

 latter can In trained to whistle well. 



WHITE-BACKED PIPING CROW (Gi/itni'irhina Ivuconvta). 



This bird is tolerably nearly allied to the preceding, 

 but differs in the male having the whole back pure 

 white, like the neck and rump; the bill is bluish-lilac, 

 shading into black towards the tip; feet blackish-grey; 

 irides light hazel. 



The female, in my opinion, is represented by speci- 

 mens with shorter, stouter bills and greyish neck and 

 back. These arc Lienerally described as young birds, 

 but a very old female, of which I have the skin (the 

 sex \vas conclusively proved by dissection), not only 

 has the nape and back grey, but mottled like^a young 

 bird ; moreover, the grey colouring is always found, in 

 every example which I have examined, in conjunction 

 with the shorter and stouter bill. 



The young bird is brownish-black where the adults 

 are black, the back being greyish 

 and spotted with white, the lower 

 pails of the abdomen whitish. 



Hans Gado' 1 ' regards (j. organica 

 = hypoleuca (Tasmanian, Piping 

 Crow) as a smaller race of the 

 same species, and Gould says of it 

 that " the female differs in having 

 the nape if the neck an:l back 

 LTf-cy. and the primaries and tips 



of the tail feathers bmwnish-blar-.k i" Handbook of the 

 Birds of Australia," Vol. I., p. 179), thus confirming my 

 view of the sexual differences. Hab.. South Aus- 

 tralia, Victoria. Xeu South Wales, and Tasmania. 



The habits and food of this species are similar to those 

 of the common Piping Grow. It breeds from August 

 to October, construct ing a laroe and deep cup-shaped 

 aeet, formed externally of sticks and lined with twigs, 

 grasses, and cow-hair, and' placed in the fork of a tree, 

 sometimes at a considerable height from the ground in 

 a eucalyptus, al other times in a sapling at about 20ft. 

 altitude; Mr. North even took the nest at 10ft. from 

 lomid. Th are laid, varying from bluish 



or greenish white to apple green, streaked, spotted, or 

 smudged with reddish-brown or wood-brown, but some- 

 time.- minutely speckled all over with pafe reddish. 



According to Gould, this bird is more shy than the 

 common Whistling Crow. 



Though imported pretty regularly, it is never very 

 cheap. The Zoological Society of London acquired two 

 examples in 1852; in 1863 ten specimens were deposited 

 at the Gardens, and two of the Tasmanian race were 

 .presented; in 1866 a specimen of the typical form was 

 deposited, and in 1869 a specimen of the Tasmanian 

 race, and since that date over a score of specimens have 

 been added to the menagerie, the latest recorded in the 

 ninth edition of the "List of Animals" having been 

 presented in 1895. 



