THE PIPING CROW. 
127 
Allied to the shrikes^ and connecting them with the crows^ 
are the Piping Crows of Australia [Gi/mnorhina). These 
are pretty black-and-white birds^ with longish bills, famed 
for their singular choral-like notes. Mr. Gould says that 
few of the birds of Australia are more ornamental than the 
piping crows, as they give a very animated appearance to 
the open plains and grassy downs, which they traverse when 
pursuing grasshoppers and other insects, their chief food. 
Their nests are open and cup-shaped, and formed of sticks 
lined with grass or other softer substances. It is curious to 
hear one of the specimens in the Zoological Gardens piping 
its song, which seems to be of a definite length, and which 
must be played out. Allied to the Piping Crows are the 
Strepera of the same country, which derive their name from 
their shrill cry whe'-n flying. These birds, when their na- 
tural food of grasshoppers and other insects gets scarce, be- 
take themselves to the cultivated grounds of the colonist, 
and occasionally commit considerable ravages on his crops 
and on his fruit : in some parts of Australia and in Tas- 
mania they are shot as an article of food, and are reckoned 
delicate eating"^. These two genera, with the allied form 
CracticuSj seem to form connecting links between the 
* Gould's ' Birds of Australia.' 
