Vol. X. 



lylO 



] Mellor, Description of a New Crow-Shrike. Qcj 



The female is so similar in colouration that dissection is necessary 

 to determine the sex. 



On account of the general dusky-brown api)earance of the 

 plumage, I propose the name of Brown Crow-Shrike [Strepera 

 fiisca), as suggested by the South Australian Ornithological Associa- 

 tion at a meeting held on 12th May, 1905. 



The descriptions are taken from birds collected by me on Eyre 

 Peninsula during a trip in October, 1899, and again while con- 

 ducting the scientific expedition during the ninth congress of the 

 Australasian Ornithologists' Union, at Warunda Creek, Central 

 Eyre Peninsula, in October, 1909. On both occasions I was 

 accompanied by Capt. S. A. White, of the Reedbeds, near Adelaide, 

 who also secured specimens. The birds on both occasions were 

 seen principally in the timbered country, where their notes rang 

 out clearly in the frosty mornings. 



The birds resemble mostly Strepera plunibea of Western Australia, 

 but are more dusky- coloured in general appearance, and show a 

 greater amount of white in the wing. 



Locality. — Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. 



The nest is similar to the general class of Strepera nests, composed 

 of sticks, lined inside with finer fibrous substance, which makes a 

 neat cup-shaped hollow. 



The eggs are three in number. A clutch taken at " Kapinka," 

 Stokes, in the Koppio Ranges, in Central Eyre Peninsula, on 

 15th September, 1898 (now in my collection), may be described 

 as follows : — General ground colour light creamy-brown, much 

 lighter in appearance than the eggs in general of the Strepera 

 family ; the markings are fine spots of light brown and purplish- 

 brown, the latter spots appearing as if beneath the surface of the 

 shell, the markings being more numerous at the larger end. Eggs 

 elongated in shape, and tapering gradually towards the smaller end. 

 Texture of the shell moderately fine, with a somewhat glossy 

 surface. Dimensions in inches : — (i) 1.70 x 1.18, (2) 1.62 x 1.12, 

 (3) 1.52 X 1. 12. 



Victorian Sericornes. 



By a. G. Campbell, Pomonal, Victoria. 

 {Read before the Bird Observers' Club, 14th April, 1910.) 



Mr. Gregory M. Mathews, in a recent letter to me, wished for some 

 reliable observations on two Victorian species of Sericornes — 5. 

 fronialis and 5. osculans. 



The Australian Museum authorities, it appears, have recently 

 stated that the two species are but one, and represent, one the 

 mature, and the other the immature stage. With this I cannot 

 agree. There has to my mind always been an obscurity in the 

 genus, and for this reason I have been collecting data and material 

 for some years and from various parts of the State. I will now 

 state this much, however — that is, that I believe that there are two 



