THE CEESTED SHRIKE. 153 



The Great Shrike, or cobbler's bird, as we called it, 

 was rather a common bird in our forests throughout the 

 year. It is a real shrike, as large as a thrush, of a dirty- 

 white and blackish-brown colour, very bold, and gene- 

 rally seen singly or in pairs. It is very bold, and one or 

 two were always about the bodies of the kangaroo which 

 hung near the tent. It has a loud clear whistle, and is, 

 I believe, an excellent cage bird. "We had a smaller 

 species which we called the Stringy-harh Shrike, of a 

 chestnut-and-white colour, which generally frequented 

 the tea-tree scrub, and seemed more to resemble the 

 thick-heads than the true shrikes : this was a summer 

 migrant to us. 



The Thick-Head is a species of oriole, peculiar to thick 

 scrub ; and of this we had at least two varieties. The 

 one large as the bunting at home, of a uniform greyish- 

 brown colour, the other much smaller, lighter in plu- 

 mage, with a gray chin. The larger variety was rare with 

 us. This bird derives its name, I suppose, from its thick 

 chubby head. 



"We had two species of Oriole, as we called them — the 

 one a little larger than the British yellowhammer, of a 

 bright yellow-and-black colour, rare, and principally 

 found in the tea-tree scrub. The other smaller and more 

 common, of a dull yellow-and-gray colour. 



There was a bird on the ranges which we called the 

 Crested Shrike, in size and shape resembling the cross- 

 bill at home, and the beak was as large and powerful, 

 but not crossed. The body colour was yellowish-green, 



