^"'ig^g"'] Campbell, Annotations. I45 



groves overhead, the next tide, of course, washing out all previous 

 tracks. 



" As a rule the male sings at no great distance from the nest, 

 but he takes no part in building, or even in feeding the young. 

 His business in life is chiefly song, but he warns the female at the 

 approach of an intruder, and I found she flew from the nest 

 towards me as I approached. The call note is a soft, clear whistle, 

 with just the suspicion of a falling cadence at the end of it. The 

 alarm note is somewhat sharj) and harsh : the song very loud, 

 clear, and musical, and is poured forth in an impetuous and 

 joyous manner, characteristic of the genus. The male sang quite 

 without fear within a few feet of my head. The female, too, 

 responds, but her efforts are comparatively feeble, but for all that 

 not unpleasing. 



" I had a glimpse of one nestling, but could neither catch it nor 

 shoot it without blowing it to pieces. It appeared to be some- 

 what mottled on the ui)per part, and was heavily striped on the 

 breast. 



" In no case did I find more than two eggs or young. In a 

 single instance the nest contained but one newly hatched bird." 



The egg may be described thus : — Oval in shape ; texture of 

 shell fine ; surface gloss}^ ; colour light olive, with a moderately 

 marked belt of umber or olive brown and dull (underlying) spots. 

 Dimensions in inches — (i) 1.04 x .73, (2) i.o x .73. 



It will be observed that the eggs resemble the P. rufiventris and 

 P. jalcata type, and are next in size to those of P. olivacea. 



Strepera graculina (Pied Crow-Shrike). — At the Bird 

 Observers' Club's dinner given on the 23rd of November in honour 

 of the official (inter-State) delegates attending the Bird Protection 

 Conferences in connection with the annual (Melbourne) session of 

 the A.O.U., a fine series of these eggs, exhibited b}^ Mr. H. L. 

 White, Scone, N.S.W., graced the table. 



ITntil recently Mr. White had difficulty (chiefly on account of 

 the inaccessible sites of nesting) in adding to his collection the 

 eggs of this bird, which is fairly numerous in his district — Upper 

 Hunter River. The eggs displayed great variation of ground 

 colouring, from pale purplish to rich vinaceous buff, either blotched 

 and spotted with uuiber and dull purplish slate or rich chestnut 

 or reddish-brown. Dimensions in inches. — A — (i) 1.93 x 1.24, 

 (2) 1. 71 x 1. 14, (3) 1. 71 X 1. 15, (4) 1.7 x 1. 16 ; B— (I) 1.6 X 1. 15, 

 (2) 1.6 X 1. 13, (3) 1.59 X 1. 13, (4) 1.59 X 1.13. 



A typical nest is composed of sticks and twigs lined with finer 

 rootlets. Inside dimensions, 6 inches across by 3 inches deep. 



I cull the following from Mr. White's field notes :— 



" During the third week of September one of my men reported 

 having seen a nest of the ' Currawang ' {Strepera graculina), 

 with the bird sitting, and that, although situated in a very bad 

 place, it might possibly be reached with a long scoop. Being very 

 busy with shearing, I could not get away at the time, but on the 

 30th of the month a fall of snow delayed work for a day, so, 



