Piping Crows 727 



blue-black, with the nape and hind neck, as well as the secondaries, upper and 

 under tail-coverts, and the bases of the tail-feathers pure white. According to 

 Gould, this bold and showy bird greatly enlivens and ornaments the lawns and 

 gardens of the colonists, and with the slightest protection from molestation 

 becomes so tame and familiar that it approaches close to their dwellings and 

 perches around them and the stockyards in small families of from six to ten in 

 number. As they prefer cleared lands, open flats, and plains skirted by belts 

 of trees, they are much more abundant in the interior than in the neighborhood 

 of the coast, and they seek their food, which consists almost entirely of insects 

 such as locusts and grasshoppers of which they consume immense quantities, 

 mainly on the ground, over which they run with the greatest facility. Their 

 song is very peculiar, consisting of a single clear, choral-like note, repeatedly 

 uttered, not only while passing over the country, but more especially in early 

 morning, when they assemble in small parties in the leafless branches of some 

 fallen eucalypt. They make very easily kept and amusing cage birds, though 

 their vocal abilities when in captivity vary somewhat, certain individuals pos- 

 sessing the full song and others only a weak imitation. The nesting season 

 begins in August and lasts for quite six months, during which two broods are 

 generally reared. The nest, usually placed at a great height, is a large, round, 

 deep, and open affair, composed outwardly of sticks, leaves, wool, etc., and lined 

 with softer material; the eggs, three or four in number, are bluish white with 

 large blotches of brownish red or light chestnut-brown. Quite similar to this 

 species is the White-backed Piping Crow (G. leuconota) of South Australia, which 

 differs mainly in having the whole back pure white. It is, however, a very much 

 shyer bird, frequenting the plains and open hilly parts of the country, spending 

 most of its time on the ground ; its notes and habit of early morning caroling are 

 the same. Also similar but smaller is the Tasmanian Piping Crow (G. hyper- 

 leuca), an elegant and animated native of Tasmania, where it is met with in 

 small flocks. "When perched on the dead branches of the trees soon after day- 

 break," says Mr. Gould, "it pours forth a succession of notes of the strangest 

 description that can be imagined, much resembling the sounds of a hand-organ 

 out of tune, and as it possesses the power of imitation in an extraordinary degree 

 it may be easily taught to whistle various tunes as well as to articulate words." 

 It nests in the highest branches of the gum trees, building a nest of coarse sticks 

 and lining it warmly with wool, feathers, etc. 



True Crow-Shrikes. The "true" Crow-Shrikes (Strepera), numbering some 

 eight species, are often placed with the Crows, to which, however, they seem to 

 show but little real affinity. They are much larger birds than those just con- 

 sidered, approximating twenty inches in length, with long, stout, distinctly 

 hooked bills and long, pointed wings; the plumage is mainly black, gray, and 

 white. Their characteristics as a group are so well set forth by Mr. Gould that 

 his general account is subjoined in full: "These birds seek their food on or near 

 the ground, sometimes in swampy situations and even on the seashore, at others 

 on the most sterile plains far distant from water; grasshoppers and insects of 

 every order are eaten by them with avidity, and to these grain seeds and fruits 



