90 How to Sex Cage Birds. 



(probably in consequence of Gould's note on tbe immature bird) are 

 regarded as young examples. 



Tasmanian Piping-Crow (Gymnorhina organica). 



"The female differs in having the nape of the neck and back 

 grey, and the primaries and tips of the tail-feathers brownish-black " 

 (Gould, Handbook of Birds of Australia, vol. i. p. 179). Gadow, who 

 asserts that the sexes of G. leuconota are "exactly alike in plumage," 

 regards the Tasmanian bird as a mere smaller form, in which ease 

 Gould's distinction confirms mine. 



Black-backed Piping-Crow {Gymnorhina tibicen). 



No sexual difference lias been noted, but I should expect an 

 authenticated female to be browner than the male and the back- 

 grey mottled, as recorded for the young bird. Undoubtedly the 

 bills of the sexes differ in length and depth. 



Butcher-Crows (Gracticus). 

 Long-billkd Butcher-Crow (Cracticus destructor). 



"Female. — Rather browner than the male, and generally of a 

 more dingy appearance : body below more uniformly tinged with 

 pale brownish-grey on the sides of breast; flanks pale brownish- 

 grey" (Gadow, Catalogue of Birds, vol. viii. p. 100). 



Pied Butcher-Crow (Craciicvs picatus). 



No distinction has been indicated between the sexes ; it will 

 therefore he necessary to compare the outline of the bill in order to 

 pick out a pair. «. 



Chapter XVII. 



LARKS (Alaudida). 



Tn the soaring birds of this family one expects to find the wings of 

 the males disproportionately long and powerful, and the chest 

 consequently broader than in the females. This is undoubtedly the 

 case in Ala.uda, Galerita, Calendula, Mirafra, Melanocorypha , and 

 Otocorys : but probably not in Rhamphocorys and Pyrrkulauda; 

 while in Calandrella the wing and tail are longer in the female, and 

 in Alaudula the wing of the female appears to be proportionately 

 shorter than that of the male, and the tail much shorter. 



As a general rule, therefore, it wall be seen that the male bird is 

 undoubtedly more powerful on the wing, so that the proportions of 

 win"- and chest measurement offer erood characters for distinguishing 



