THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
When Vigors and Horsfield drew up their report upon the Australian 
birds in the collection of the Linnean Society they determined some specimens 
as Graucalus melanops ex Corvus melanops Latham, writing : 44 Mr. Caley 
says of this bird that it may generally be seen on the tops of high dead trees. 
He does not consider it migratory. One of his specimens is marked 4 male 
and a second 4 female.’ Others were included under the name Graucalus 
papuensis ex Gorvus papuensis Gmelin, with the note : 4 M. Temminck unites 
these two last birds as different sexes of the same species ; the latter being 
the female. We know not upon what authority he has founded this opinion. 
We must, however, observe that the only specimen of the G. papuensis in the 
Linnean collection, collected by Mr. Caley, is marked by that gentleman as a 
male ; while a specimen of the G. melanops is noted as a female. Time will 
clear away the difficulties that attend such points. At present we can only 
state the doubts which exist on the subject.’ ” Of course, all the specimens 
Vigors and Horsfield handled, as above, belonged to one species, but that 
was not Gmelin’s Corvus papuensis, which is a different but closely allied species. 
Gould’s account is worth repeating : 44 New South Wales, Tasmania, 
Swan River and Port Essington are each inhabited by Graucali so nearly allied 
that by many persons it would be considered questionable whether they were 
not referable to one and the same species ; but as this is by no means certain, 
I shall confine my remarks to the bird inhabiting New South Wales, which 
is one of the largest of the genus yet discovered, which is distinguished from 
its near allies by the greater depth of the blue-grey colouring of the upper- 
surface, and to which the synonyms given above refer. 
44 The Graucalus melanops, then, is a very common bird in New South Wales, 
but is far less numerous in winter than in summer, when it is so generally 
dispersed over the colony that to particularise situations in which it may be 
found is quite unnecessary ; hills of moderate elevation, flats, and plains 
thinly covered with large trees being alike resorted to ; but I do not recollect 
meeting with it in the midst of the thick brushes — situations which probably 
are uncongenial to its habits and mode of life. It is very abundantly dispersed 
over the plains of the interior, such as the Liverpool and those which stretch 
away to the northward and eastward of New South Wales. Its flight is 
undulating and powerful, but is seldom exerted for any other purpose than that 
of conveying it from one part of the forest to another, or to sally forth in pursuit 
of an insect, which may pass within range of its vision while perched upon somo 
dead branch of a high tree, a habit common to this bird and the other members 
of this genus. On such an elevated perch it sometimes remains for hours 
together ; but during the heat of the day seeks shelter from the rays of the sun 
by shrouding itself amidst the dense foliage of the trees. Its food consists of 
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