BIRDS OF TASMANIA. 15 



FAMILY-DICRURID/E (1 species). 



*DRONGO 

 (Chibia bracteata, Gould). 



Male. " General colour above black, feathers of the head and 

 sides of the hind-neck tipped with metallic steel-green; rump, 

 upper tail coverts, wings, and tail black, washed with metallic 

 steel-green; all the under surface black, slightly glossed with 

 green ; the tips of the feathers of the throat and fore-neck spangled 

 with small spots of metallic steel-green ; under wing coverts black, 

 with a rounded spot of white at the tips; bill and legs black; 

 iris red. Total length in the flesh, 12.25 in. ; wing, 6.25; outer tail 

 feathers, 5.2; central tail feathers, 4.8; bill, 1.3; tarsus, 0.9" (A. J. 

 North). 



Female. Similar in plumage. 



Young. "Fledglings are blackish-brown above and below; 

 wings and tail black slightly glossed with metallic steel-green " (A. 

 J. North). 



Nest. Situated in a fork at the extremity of a branch of a 

 tree, and composed of rootlets and stalks of climbing plants, lined 

 with thin wiry rootlets. 



Eggs. " Clutch three to four; almost oval in shape; texture of 

 shell fine and thin; surface slightly glossy; colour a light pinkish 

 shade or of a delicate pinkish-blush, sparingly and softly spotted 

 with pinkish-red and purple, also with a few spots of chestnut, all 

 the markings being more numerous about the larger end. Dimen- 

 sions in inches of a proper clutch : (1) 1.27 x .85; (2) 1.24 x .83; 

 (3) 1.19 x .83" (A. J. Campbell). 



Breeding Season. October to January. 



Geographical Distribution. Tasmania (accidental), New 

 South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Northern Territory, and New 

 Guinea. 



Observations. At a meeting of the Royal Society of Tasmania 

 in June, 1888, a communication was read by Colonel Legge regard- 

 ing the shooting of a Drongo on the East Coast. This was the 

 first record of this species as an accidental visitor to the island. 

 In October of the same year the late Mr. A. Morton exhibited a 

 specimen shot at Stanley and forwarded by Dr. L. Holden. Yet 

 another was shot on the 3rd July, 1900, at Bridport, on the North- 

 East Coast. 



FAMILY-PRIONOPID/E (2 species). 



Sub- Family Pr lonopmae. 



*MAGPIE-LARK 



(Grallina picata, Lath.) 



Male. A broad line over the eye, sides of the neck, upper 

 wing coverts, bases and tips of the secondaries, rump and upper 



