196 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



year, in the Zoological Gardens at Melbourne, a pinioned Wedge- 

 tailed Eagle and a pinioned Native Companion, Australasiana 

 antigone, accidentally got together and engaged in battle, in 

 which the Eagle was victorious, killing its opponent and being not 

 much the worse itself; yet the cranes are powerful and also spite- 

 ful birds. I was told of an Eagle that swooped down to take a 

 young Bustard, when the wary mother flew up to meet its enemy 

 and they came in collision with great force, the Eagle breaking its 

 neck with the contact and the Bustard being killed by the claws 

 of the Eagle being fixed in its neck. I observed a Western 

 Goshawk, Astur cruentus, resting on a small stump of a eucalyptus 

 tree, about a foot high, and which was mostly overgrown with 

 young shoots, and as the leaves were of a light greyish green 

 colour, at a short distance it was almost impossible to dis- 

 tinguish the bird from the background of leaves, and I wondered 

 whether the bird went there by chance or because of the 

 similarity of the foliage with its plumage, as otherwise it was 

 an unusual place for this particular bird to rest. In the same 

 locality I noticed a Kestrel Hawk, Oerchneis cenchroides, chasing 

 a Brown Hawk, Hieracidea berigora, from the vicinity of its nest, 

 and when it left off a pair of Magpies took up the running. Very 

 few Ravens, Corone australis, were noticed. I was informed that 

 Crows generally appear about the same time the Eagles do, namely, 

 in August, and leave again by the ist of October. They are 

 very fond of devouring young snakes and lizards — in fact, very 

 little seems to come amiss to them — and they have a great weak- 

 ness for hens' eggs, and when at the 75-Mile Railway Siding I 

 heard the small son of the guard of the train, whose home was 

 evidently near by, call out to his father, " The Crow ran away 

 with another egg. Dad. I saw it just now." The Leaden Crow- 

 Shrike, Strepera plumbea, was often seen. It has a loud, clear, 

 whistling note. They are locally called " Squeakers," and are 

 found in the open forest country, and I observed several of their 

 open stick nests, built high up in large eucalyptus trees. 



Magpie Larks, Grallina picata, are, as usual, plentiful, and they 

 seem to prefer the settled districts, often building their mud nests 

 close to the settlers' houses, but they are seldom interfered with. 

 One pair were observed by Mr. R. Adam, at Katanning, repairing 

 their old nest with fresh mud for a second brood. Several pairs 

 of White-shouldered Caterpillar-eaters, Lalage tricolor, were 

 noticed ; they have a curious habit of lightly and slowly flying 

 from one tree to another, uttering at the same time a peculiar 

 double whistling note, and the bird seems to delight in it, as he 

 did it over and over again. Magpies, Gymnorhina dorsalis, are 

 very plentiful, and the. markings on the young birds are easily 

 distinguished from those on the young of the G. leuconota. I 

 saw no G. tibicen, either birds or skin, nor do I think they are 



