BLACK-FACED CUCKOO-SHRIKE. 
insects and their larvae and berries, but the former appear to be preferred, all 
kinds being acceptable, from the mantes to others of a minute size. 
“ When the young, which are generally two in number, leave the nest, the 
feathers of the body are brown, margined with light grey ; this colouring is soon 
exchanged for one of a uniform grey, except on the lower part of the abdomen 
and under tail-coverts, which are white, and a mark of black which surrounds 
the eye and spreads over the ears ; the throat and fore-head in this stage are 
lighter than the remainder of the plumage, which is somewhat singular, as in 
the next change that takes place those parts become of a jet-black ; and this 
colour, I believe, is never afterwards thrown off, but remains a characteristic 
of the adult state of both sexes, which are at all times so similar in size and 
colour as not to be distinguished from each other. Its note, which is seldom 
uttered, is a peculiar single purring or jarring sound, repeated several times in 
succession.” 
Gould had separated the Tasmanian form as a distinct species and 
explained : “In my description of Gmucalus melanojps, I have stated that New 
South Wales, Tasmania, Swan River and Port Essington are each inhabited 
by Graucali so nearly allied to each other that it was questionable whether 
they were not one and the same species, and that the slight differences they 
present were attributable to some peculiarity in the districts they inhabit ; 
after much attention to the subject, I have been induced to regard the Tas- 
manian bird as distinct, and I have therefore assigned it a name, parvirostris .” 
Captain S. A. White has written me : “ This is widely distributed, being 
found practically all over the State (South Australia). It shifts much accord- 
ing to food supply. The birds are most plentiful with us on the Adelaide plains 
in the autumn, and just after the rains large nocturnal moths come out of the 
ground and the birds seem to be in search of them. Its pleasing light grey 
plumage and graceful flight make it a great favourite ; the diet is very varied, 
insects forming the greater part, berries and seeds being also eaten, and I have 
seen several birds feeding upon ripe ivy berries : they swept past and took the 
berry while upon the wing. They search diligently for mantis and phasma, 
and I have seen them hopping about upon the ground picking up ants. They 
nest from September to December, and the nest is a very flimsy affair of cobwebs, 
bark, etc., placed on the horizontal fork of a tree at varying heights from the 
ground ; it is so loosely constructed that the eggs (which are two or three in 
number) can be easily seen from underneath. Flight undulatingly soft with 
long beats of the wings : the call is a strange rattle, often made on the wing. 
I have met with the Tasmanian subspecies in Tasmania ; its habits seem 
identical with those of the mainland form. I have often seen them hawking 
for moths in the evening a little after sundown.” 
115 
