STRUTHIDEA CINEREA, Gould \ 
Grey Struthidea. 
Struthidea cinerea, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part IV. p. 143; and in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part I. — G. R. Gray, 
List of Gen. of Birds, 2nd Edit., p. 51. 
A 
Brachystoma cinerea, Swains. An. in Menag., and Two Cent, and a Quarter of New Birds, No. 51. — Class, of Birds, 
vol. ii. p. 266. 
So little information has been obtained respecting this highly curious bird, that my account of it must ne- 
cessarily be very meagre. From what I have personally observed, it would seem to be a species peculiar to 
the interior, and so far as is yet known, confined to the south-eastern portion of the Australian continent. 
I found it inhabiting the pine ridges, as they are termed by the colonists, bordering the extensive plains of 
the Upper and Lower Namoi, and giving a decided preference to the Callitris pyramidalis, a fine fir-like tree 
peculiar to the district. Those I observed were always in small companies of three or four together, on 
the topmost branches of the trees, and were extremely quick and restless, the whole company leaping 
from branch to branch in rapid succession, at the same time throwing up and expanding their tails and 
wings ; these actions were generally accompanied with a harsh unpleasant note ; their manners, in fact, closely 
resembled those of the White-winged Chough and the Pomatorhini : a knowledge of its nidification and the 
number and colour of its eggs would throw considerable light upon the affinities of this curious form. I 
would, therefore, particularly impress upon those who may reside in, or visit the localities it inhabits, to pay 
especial attention to, and to make known their observations upon, these points. 
The food, as ascertained by dissection, was insects ; the stomachs of those examined were tolerably hard 
and muscular, and contained the remains of coleoptera. 
The sexes assimilate so closely in size and in the colouring of their plumage, that they are to be distin- 
guished only by dissection. 
Head, neck, back, and under surface grey, each feather tipped with lighter grey ; wings brown ; tail 
black, the middle feathers glossed with deep rich metallic green ; irides pearly white ; bill and legs black. 
The figures are of the natural size. 
