NEW SOUTH WALES 97 



The eggs are pointed, pear-shaped, and laid 

 upon the bare ground. The male does all the 

 hatching, a most unusual procedure. As a feeble 

 flier it almost prefers to let itself be caught. 



DISTRIBUTION OF EASTERN MAGPIES 

 (Gymnorhina) 



a. b. c. White-backed section of Eastern Magpies, 

 d. e. Black-backed section of Eastern Magpies. 



Magpies are the popular birds of our people with 

 one dissenting voice. That voice belongs to the 

 man who grows grain and who accuses the bird 

 of eating the seed. Many small grubs about that 

 seed are the principal attraction for the bird. 



Queensland "e," map 40, has its magpie, black- 

 backed, with one record of variation. (Cape York 

 Peninsula, H. L. White). 



Both backs are found at Port Augusta, S.A., the 

 Wakool River and Moree, N.S.W. At Lithgow, 

 Bombala and Cooma, the White-back is the only 

 one so far reported. At present it seems as if the 

 White-back is the common bird in the coast moun- 

 tains, the Black-back far north and inland, and the 

 variable bird between. It is dimorphic throughout 

 most of Australia. In Tasmania the magpie is a 

 small White-back, instead of following the general 

 law of being larger. 



The parents are devoted to their young during 

 the first ten months, after which they get notice 



