54 SOME USEFUL AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



The Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike (Cotacina robusta). 



Gould's Handbook, vol. I, p. 192, No. 103 ; Leach's Bird Book, p. 127, No. 262. 



The Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike has a number of popular namea. In my 

 boyhood in Victoria I remember we called it the Big Summer-bird to 

 distinguish it from the smaller wood-swallows also summer-birds. In New 

 South Wales it is called the Blue-jay, as in the plate illustrating our article. 

 Other popular names are Blue-pigeon, Leatherhead, and Cherry-hawk three- 

 names, given in Leach's list, that are very misleading. Its scientific name 

 has also been changed, for it was described in Gould's work as Graucalus 

 melanopSj while Latham had previousiy designated it Corvus melanops, Black- 

 faced Crow. This bird has suffered badly from a multiplicity of names and 

 has been likened to a number of birds to which it has no affinity. 



The Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike is a handsome slate-blue bird, with the side 

 of the face and neck black. It generally flies alone or in pairs, and either in- 

 flight or when resting on the ground resembles a cuckoo. It usually selects 

 as its perch a bare branch of a tall gum ; here it feeds on passing insect*,, 

 but it also gets some of its food from among the grass. It has a very wide 

 range, from the Malay Archipelago, through New Guinea and Australia, to- 

 Tasmania. 



This bird's nest is a shallow one, situated on the tip of a horizontal branch 

 and composed of small sticks closely woven together ; in this it lays two- 

 eggs, varying from brown to dull-green in colour, spotted and blotched alt 

 over the surface with brown. 



The White-shouldered Caterpillar-eater (Lalage tricolor Swainson). 



Gould's Handbook, vol. I, p. 204, No. 112 ; Leach's Bird Book, p. 127, No. 256. 



This bird was originally described under the name of Campephagct 

 humeralis, but later was removed from that group into the genus Lalage, 

 Though the older popular name of White-shouldered Campephaga may be- 

 rather cumbersome it is much more distinctive than that of Caterpillar-eater,, 

 a name which might be applied to many other birds. In the later generic- 

 application, White-shouldered Lalage, we would have a suitable and 

 euphonious popular name. The White-shouldered Lalage is migratory in 

 New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia, appearing in the first 

 State in November. With its bright black and white plumage it somewhat 

 resembles a large robin. It frequents the open forest, has a quick, direct, 

 flight, and gets most of its food on the ground. 



The nest is a very shallow affair, composed of bits of bark woven together 

 with dried twigs and grass, lined inside and placed in the fork of a dead 

 tree. The eggs, two or three in number, vary in ground colour from pale- 

 green to greyish ; those in some clutches are deeply and heavily blotched y, 

 but in others may be scarcely spotted. According to Gould, the female is a 

 very shy bird, with a song so sweet that it might almost be mistaken for- 

 that of a canary. 



