xxxiv 
INTRODUCTION. 
feeble and protracted, and they seldom mount high ha the air, except for the purpose of crossing a gully, or for 
passing from one part of the forest to another, and then merely over the tops of the trees ; during flight they 
usually utter a pecuhar shrill cry, which is frequently repeated and answered by other birds of the same troop, for 
they mostly flit about in small companies of from four to six in number, apparently the parents and their offspring 
of the year. All the species occasionally descend to the cultivated grounds, orchards and gardens of the settlers, 
and commit considerable havoc among their fruits and grain ; in many parts of AustraUa, particularly in Van 
Diemen's Land, they form an article of food, and are considered good and even dehcate eating. They usually 
build open cup-shaped nests as large as that of the Crow, composed of sticks and other coarse materials, lined 
with grasses or any other suitable substance that may be at hand ; the eggs are generally three, but are sometimes 
four, in number. The sexes are similar in plumage, and the young assume the livery of the adult from the time 
they leave the nest. 
83. Strepera graculina .............. Vol. II. PL 42. 
84. Strepera fuliginosa, Gould ............. Vol. II. PI. 43. 
85. Strepera Arguta, Gould . . . ... . . . . . .. . Vol. II. PL 44. 
86. Strepera Anaphonensis . ............ Vol. II. PL 45. 
Corvus versicolor, Lath. 
87. Strepera melanoptera, Gould. ■ i ■ 
Strepera melanoptera, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc, Part XIV. p. 20. 
All the upper surface, wings, and tail black ; under surface brownish black, tinged with grey on the 
abdomen ; under tail-coverts and tips of all but the two centre tail-feathers white ; irides yellow ; bill and feet 
black. 
Total length, 19 inches ; lill, 2 ; wings, 11 ; tail, 9 ; tarsi, 
This species inhabits South Australia, and is distinguished from all its congeners by the total absence of any 
white mark on the wings ; in other respects it is so similar to S. Arguta, that I have not considered it necessary to 
give a figure of it. 
Genus Gymnorhina, G. R. Gray. 
Like Strepera this is strictly an Australian form, all the species of which frequent exclusively the southern 
parts of the country. Their structure is a mere modification of that of the members of the last genus adapted to a 
somewhat different mode of life and habits. They are more pastoral than the Streperce, frequenting as they do the 
open plains and grassy downs, over Avhich they run or rather hop with great facility. Their chief food consists of 
grasshoppers and other insects, to which berries and fi'uits are added, when such kinds of food are procurable. If 
unmolested in their natural haunts they may be considered a more familiar race than the Streperce, but if 
persecuted they become extremely shy and distrustful. Few birds are more ornamental, or give a more animated 
appearance to the country than the members of this genus, either when running over the surface of the lawn-like 
ground, or when pouring forth their singular choral-hke notes while perched together on the bare branches of a 
fallen Eucalyptus. The form and situation of the nest is the same as those of the Streperce, larger, but not unlike 
that of the European Crow. 
Specimens of this form from Western Australia exhibit some trifling differences, but I have not as yet been 
able to satisfy myself whether' they are or are not distinct. 
88. Gymnorhina Tibicen Vol. II. PL 46. 
89. Gymnorhina leuconota, Gould Vol. II. PL 47. 
90. Gymnorhina organicum, Gould . . . . . . . . . . . . Vol. II. PL 48. 
Genus Cracticus, Vieill. 
The members of this genus, which are universally dispersed over AustraUa, prey upon small quadrupeds, 
birds, lizards and insects, which they frequently impale after the manner of the ordinary Shrikes. Their 
