BARBED CUCKOO-SHRIKE. 
slate-grey with whitish margins ; lower aspect of tail dark slate-grey. Eyes pale 
yellow, bill and feet black. Total length 258 mm. ; culmen 17, wing 148, tail 103, 
tarsus 27. Figured. Collected at Kuranda, near Cairns, North Queensland, 
on the 24th of January, 1913. The sexes are alike. 
Adult female. Similar to the adult male. 
Adult male. General colour of the upper-surface slate-grey with dark shaft-lines to the 
feathers including the top of the head, back, scapulars and upper wing-coverts, 
the greater series darker than the back and margined with pale grey ; bastard-wing 
and primary-coverts blackish margined with white ; flight-quills also blackish 
margined with pale grey on the outer webs and much more broadly with white in 
the inner webs ; upper tail-coverts rather paler than the back and narrowly tipped 
with whitish ; tail blackish, paler on the outermost feather on each side which is 
slightly tipped with white ; lores and feathers in front of the eye black ; sides of 
face like the back ; chin, throat, and fore-neck pale slate-grey barred with whitish ; 
breast, abdomen, sides of body, and thighs barred with blackish-brown or grey ; 
under tail-coverts, axillaries, and under wing-coverts white barred or otherwise 
marked with dark or pale grey ; under-surface of flight-quills pale brown with 
white margins ; lower aspect of tail greyish-brown. Bill and feet black, eyes pale 
yellow. Total length 240 mm. ; culmen 17, wing 139, tail 100, tarsus 25. Figured. 
Collected at Piara, Cape York, North Queensland, on the 24th of August, 1913. 
Imrmtwe female. General colour of the upper-surface ash-grey including the top of the 
head, sides of face, entire back, and upper wing-coverts ; bastard-wing and primary- 
coverts blackish edged with white on the outer webs ; flight-quills also blackish, 
margined with white on both webs but more broadly on the inner ones ; rump and 
upper tail-coverts minutely barred with white and a dark subapical mark on the 
long upper tail-coverts ; tail dark brown, the feathers slightly tipped with white ; 
lores and feathers in front of the eye blackish ; chin, throat, and upper-breast 
ash-grey, barred with white ; lower-breast, abdomen, sides of body, vent and under 
tail-coverts cream-white with dark wavy cross-bars which become more sparsely 
on the vent and under tail-coverts ; thighs slate-grey with whitish tips to the 
feathers ; axillaries, under wing-coverts and inner margins of quills below cream- 
white, remainder of quill-lining and lower aspect of tail greyish-brown. Collected 
at Broadwater, Northern New South Wales, on the 25th of November, 1906. 
Nest. Shallow open structure, composed of twigs, rootlets, etc., held together with cobweb. 
Outside measurements 3| inches by 2\ deep. Inside 2\ by § deep. 
Eggs. Clutch, two. White, spotted, more at the larger end where a zone is formed, with 
brown and lavender ; 30 mm. by 22. 
Breeding- season. October to January. 
This beautiful species was described by Swainson under the name Ceblepyris 
lineatus, and later Gould changed the name to Graucalus swainsonii, as he con- 
cluded that Swainson’s specific name was untenable. Under the present rules 
this is not so, and we must use Swainson’s name. 
Gould wrote : “ Examples of this species occur in almost every collection 
sent from Moreton Bay. I regret to add that it is one of the few birds I had 
no opportunities of observing in a state of nature, and that little is at present 
known of its habits and economy, beyond what is stated in the following note 
which was sent to me by the late E. Strange : ‘ During the summer months 
135 
