OOECORAX. 189 



altogether without markings, or with only one or two blackish 

 specks. A set of four measure as follows : — length 1-26 x 0-85 

 inch; 1 -18 x 0-85 inch ; 1-27 x 0-88 inch; 1-18 x 0-85 inch." 

 (Bamsay, P.L.S., N.S.W., Vol. vii., p. 406.) 



I found these birds in great numbers on the Bell and Macquarie 

 Rivers, during August 1887, congregating in small companies of 

 six or seven in number, making the bush resound with their 

 peculiar harsh grating cries when flying. 



Hab. Gulf of Carpentaria, New South Wales, Interior, Victoria 

 and South Australia. (Ramsay.) 



Genus COECOEAX, Lessor. 



-'f. OOECORAX MELANORHAMPHUS, Vieillot. 



WMte-winged Corcorax. 



Gould, Handlk. Bds. Aust., Vol. i., sp. 288, p. 470. 



This bird is plentifully distributed throughout New South 

 Wales, building its large bowl-shaped structure of mud on the 

 horizontal branch of a tree, in any convenient situation. The 

 usual number of eggs for a sitting is four, but as many as eight 

 have been taken from one nest, it would therefore appear that 

 more than one bird lays in a single nest ; it is well known that 

 often more than one pair of birds assists in the construction of 

 one nest. Ground colour of eggs dull-white, blotched all over 

 beneath the surface of the shell with deep bluish-black markings ; 

 on the outer surface the blotches become larger, but fewer, and 

 vary from olive-brown to blackish-brown in tint ; the shell of 

 the eggs being rough. Size of a set of four taken at Macquarie ^ 

 Fields ; length (A) 1-56 x M6 inch ; (B) 1-5 x M8 inch ; (C) ; 

 1-51 X 1-18 inch; (D) 1-53 x M3 inch. 



The breeding season commences in August, and lasts during 

 the three following months. 



