THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 43 



the broken leg the male bird has had from the beginning of 1893. 

 Mr. Andrew M'Gregor tells me of a pair of this species living at 

 Pakenham that has reared three families of young without any 

 black pigment in their plumage, but these albinos do not seem to 

 live long in captivity. 



My father has a magpie at liberty which has many curious ways. 

 Some mornings I have seen the fowls' food tin filled, but only to 

 benefit the sparrows and the minahs, for this tyrant bird will keep 

 all the fowls away, while allowing the foreigners to breakfast. Our 

 degenerate fowls do not hunt for themselves, consequently they 

 would go all day without food. Although an act of this kind is 

 soon remedied the bird will continue to worry the poultry. At 

 one time it will keep some thirty silly hens and roosters pent up 

 in a corner of the yard for hours. At another it will be 

 standing before the door of the roosting-house, keeping all out 

 until they are relieved at dusk by " maggie " being shut up for the 

 night. AH the animals are not treated alike, for we have a stable 

 kitten that has thoroughly won the good graces of the magpie. 

 Upon release from their houses in the morning each runs to greet 

 the other, and the bird fondles the cat by catching hold of its 

 tongue and pulling it in many directions without any offence being 

 given or meant. 



The Black-backed Magpie, Gymnorhina tibicen, Lath. 



I know of a Black-backed Magpie at Hawthorn which has 

 built a nest in a peach tree. For tlie past three years it has been 

 living under the domesticated role. The bird was born in New 

 South Wales in 1895, and before it was able to fly was caught 

 and sent to my friend, who is the principal of a ladies' school, 

 who kindly allowed me to photograph the nest and supplied 

 some notes of interest. The bird, not having full freedom, could 

 only work at the nest between 7 and 9 a.m. and after 5 p.m., 

 and on the whole of Saturday and Sunday. The nest was placed 

 7 feet 6 inches above the ground ; it was compact, neatly made 

 of various twigs, and slightly lined with feathers. The whole 

 breadth was 14 inches, that of bowl 4.5 inches, and depth of 

 cavity 2.5 inches. In October three eggs were laid in it, and the 

 dimensions averaged — diameter, 1.08 ; axis, 1.5 inches. The 

 colours were also normal — ground, bluish grey ; under markings, 

 purplish ; cover markings, dark brown. 



It is rarely that either of these species lays five eggs to the 

 clutch, but cases in both were reported to me last season. 



In a letter of Mr. H. S. Burcher to me, dated 15th September, 

 1898, he says: — "I noticed a very remarkable incident last week in 

 the finding of a Black-backed Magpie's nest with five eggs. This 

 is quite out of the ordinary for a magpie here, as it is the first time 

 I have ever found five eggs in a nest. I left them at the first 

 time to make the note you wrote for, when on passing the second 



