WHITE-BACKED MAGPIE. 
heads. The full flute-like notes of this bird are heard best with the first 
streak of dawn or in the early night when it is quite too dark to see the roosting 
bird in the tree-top. I believe at no other time can the complete series of 
flute-like notes, that form this bird’s song, be heard to perfection ; a matin 
song and vesper hymn, whose charm is enhanced by the absolute stillness 
of the forest at those hours ” ; and about the Tasmanian bird he noted : 
“ This dwarf race is very numerous throughout Tasmania, in habits and song 
it is very similar to its mainland relative. I rather doubt whether the song 
of the insular race is quite equal to that of the breeding birds of the dominant 
species on the Adelaide hills.” 
Mr. J. W. Mellor writes : “ The White-backed Magpie is the typical 
southern form, found all over South Australia proper and Victoria, also in the 
southern parts of New South Wales ; but as one gets into the northern part 
of that State the black-backed and white-backed species overlap. The 
cultivated land and forest country are the home of the Magpie, and it is a most 
useful bird in eating up insect pests ; the farmer sometimes condemns him 
for eating corn, but really he is only searching for insect pests that attack the 
corn. The note of the Magpie is a beautifully full and melodious warble 
and hearty carolling sound, so well-known to everyone, yet so hard to explain 
in words. It is full of music, especially when heard in the early morning 
when the dew is on the grass and the air is rarefied ; the notes float out with 
a force and volume that is really surprising and can be heard a great distance 
off, the male being especially loud and noisy in his carolling to his mate who 
is most likely in a neighbouring tree and who will answer him with a pleasant 
carol. The birds will be often heard calling and answering on a moonlight 
night when the ah is clear and still, and they can be heard at least half a mile 
off. The nesting season often starts early and ends late, beginning in July 
and continuing for quite six months ; in the northern arid parts of the state 
they are not so regular, breeding abundantly at any time after heavy rains.” 
Hall’s notes in connection with Victorian birds, hereafter referred to as 
regards systematics, may be abridged as regards habits here : “ The following- 
observations have been made in the south-east of the continent, and they relate 
to the species G. leuconota Gould, and what I take to be its variety or subspecies 
G. libicen Latham. In certain areas the subspecies is so fixed as apparently 
to be a species ; in others the interbreeding and the specimens showing reversion 
are so common as to make them inseparable ; while again in the far back- 
country of all the eastern states is shown the strong evidence of lesser dimen- 
sions, apart from dichromatism. Yet these lesser dimensions are not quite 
confined to the inland and drier areas. Their points of resemblance are so 
many and those of difference so few that one strongly inclines to mark them 
357 
