leiLjJLTIE III. 



CRACTICUS ARGENTEUS (Gould). 



SIL VER Y-BA CKED CRO W-SHRIKE. 



THE present species, which inhabits the north coast of Australia, in its plumage partakes of the 

 characteristics of Cracticus Nigrogularis and Cracticus Torquatus, but has a distinctive feature 

 of its own in the light grey colouring of the back. 



In habits it does not differ fronj the two previously described members of the genus. 



The crown of the head, ear-coverts, shoulders and wings, are black ; tail-feathers, black, tipped 

 with white ; back, light silvery-grey ; under surface, rump, and margins of the two middle secondaries, 

 white ; bill, black ; irides, yellowish-brown ; legs and feet, blackish-brown. 



Habitat : North coast. 



CRACTICUS TORQUATUS. 



BUTCHER-BIRD. 



THE whole of the southern portion of Australia constitutes the home of the present species, brushes 

 and thickly timbered country being especially frequented by it. 



It principally remains among the branches of trees, but sallies forth to obtain its food, which, 

 like that of the other members of the genus, consists of large insects, worms, mice, and small birds, 

 in fact of any kind of small animal which it can obtain. 



Its note has no particular tune about it, but is, as Gould says, " a jumble of discordant 

 sounds impossible to be described." 



The breeding season lasts from September to the end of December, three eggs being laid in 

 a nest constructed of small sticks and lined with fine fibrous roots. The eggs are dark buff, blotched 

 and spotted with dark brown, or brownish-red. In length they are one inch and a-quarter, and in 

 breadth eleven lines. 



Like most of the Crow-Shrikes, the Butcher Bird becomes tame in captivity, and will learn 

 to whistle almost any tune. 



The crown of the head, ear-coverts and back of the neck are black ; the back and rump, 

 brownish-grey ; basal portion of the wing-feathers brownish-grey, the rest dark brown, the two middle 

 secondaries broadly margined with white ; tail, dark brown, all except the two middle feathers tipped 

 with white ; under surface, greyish-white ; bill, horn-colour at the base, black at the tip ; irides, dark 

 grey ; feet, blackish-brown. 



The sexes are almost alike in plumage, the only difference being that the female is slightly 

 duller in colouring. 



Habitats : New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Western Australia. 



