PRIONOPID^E. 263 



Family PRIONOPID^E. 

 Genus GRALLINA, Vieill. 



Grallina picata (Lath.). 



Grallina australis, Thien. Fortpflanz. ges. Vog. tab. xxvii. fig. 2, a, b 



(1845-54). 

 Grallina picata, Gould, Handb. Birds Austr. i. p. 188 (1865) ; Sharpe, 



Cat. Birds B. M. iii. p. 272 (1877) ; North, Nests # Eggs Austr. 



Birds, p. 79, pi. viii. fig. 12 (1889) ; Le Souef, Viet. Nat. xvi. p. 63 



(1899) ; id. Knowledge, xxiii. p. 92 (1900); id. Ibis, 1901, p. 135; 



Campbell, Nests $ Eggs Austr. Birds, i. p. 87, pi. 6 (1901) ; Sharpe, 



Hand-l. iv. p. 264 (1903). 



The eggs of the Magpie-Shrike are usually of a narrow oval shape, 

 but some are broad and somewhat pyriform. They are moderately 

 glossy. The ground varies from cream-colour or pinkish white to 

 salmon-pink, and is marked, almost entirely at the broad end in 

 the form of a cap or broad zone, with more or less confluent 

 blotches, spots, and clouds of purplish red, reddish brown, and violet- 

 grey. The smaller half of the egg is usually only sparingly 

 speckled. Specimens measure from 1-03 to 1-2 in length, and from 

 79 to -89 in breadth. 



3. Queensland, Australia (Owen). Gould Coll. 



3. Springfield, Queensland. Gould Coll. 



4. Dawson River, Queensland, 17th Crowley Bequest. 



Oct. (North Coll.}. 



2. Dobroyde, N.S.W. (E. P. Ramsay). Crowley Bequest. 



2. Sydney ( Tristram Coll.). Crowley Bequest. 



1. New South Wales. Gould Coll. 



2. New South Wales. Gould Coll. 



9. Victoria. Government of Victoria [P.]. 



1. Gippsland, Victoria. F. A. Philbrick, Esq., K.C. [P.]. 



4. Melbourne. A. J. Campbell, Esq. [P.]. 



3. Melbourne, Sept. (A. J. North). Crowley Bequest. 



Genus HEMIPUS, Hodgs. 

 Hemipus picatus (Sykes). 



(Plate XI. fig. 20.) 



Hemipus picatus, Sharpe, Cat. Birds B. M. iii. p. 307 (1877) ; Oates, 

 Fauna Brit. Ind., Birds, i. p. 471 (1889) ; id. ed. Hume, Nests $ Eggs 

 Ind. Birds, i. p. 327 (1889) ; Nehrk. Kat. Eiersamml. p. 22 (1899) ; 

 Sharpe, Hand-l. iv. p. 264 (1903). 



Two eggs of the Black-backed Pied Shrike are of a narrow oval 

 form and nearly devoid of gloss. They are greenish or greyish 

 white, .profusely blotched, spotted, and streaked with two shades of 

 umber-brown and with lavender. In one example the markings 



