432 THE BIRDS OF AXTSTBALIA 



Genus Strepera. Crow-Shrikes. 

 Confined to Australia and Tasmania. Large black, blackish- 

 brown or grey birds, with limited white markings. The iris is 

 yellow and the bill and feet black. The stronghold and apparent 

 centre of distribution is in the South. They feed on grasshoppers 

 and other large insects, and on such fruits as are available, and 

 seek their food on or near the ground. They hop along the 

 ground with remarkable agility, and make leaps from branch 

 to branch ; only if disturbed, or if changing the feeding ground, 

 flying over the tops of the trees. They are mostly seen in com- 

 panies of four to six in number, probably the parents with the 

 family of the year. They utter a peculiar shrill cry, calling to 

 and fro to one another. They build open cup-shaped nests, as 

 large as that of the Crow, made of sticks and lined with grasses 

 or bark, and placed on the branches of a low tree. The eggs three 

 or four, of some shade of brown and mottled with blotches of 

 darker, and measure over 1.5 x under 1.25 inch. 



A. — Pied, black and white. 



The Pied Crow-Shrike, S. gracuUna. Eastern Australia. Glossy bluish- 

 black, with three marked white areas, a large patch formed by 

 the white bases of the primaries of the wings, a broad white band 

 across the basal third of the tail, and the under tail-coverts; the tail 

 feathers are also narrowly tipped with white. Length 18.5 inches, 

 tail 8.9. 



B. — General colour black, the white of the base of the wing 

 not forming a large patch, and no white band across the base 

 of the tail. 



1. Dull blackish-brown; under tail-coverts white. 



The Hill Crow-Shrike, S. arguta. Tasmania. Inner web of the base of 

 the primaries, and the tips of the secondaries white; the tail feathers 

 except the two centre ones, broadly tipped with white. Female much 

 greyer. Length 21 inches, tail over 10 inches. 



The Black-winged Crow-Shrike, S. melanoptera (intermedia). South 

 Australia (Kangaroo Island). Wings all black" above and below; all 

 the tail feathers with white tips. Length 19 inches, tail 9.5. 



2. Glossy black; under tail-coverts blackish. 



The Black Crow-Shrike, S. fuliginosa. South-east Australia and Tas- 

 mania. All black except the tips of the primaries, and the tips of 

 the tail feathers, the white tips, however, nearly 1.5 inch in breadth, 

 not exceeding .25 inch in the other species. Length 19 inches, tail 

 8.5. 



