PIED CROW-SHRIKE. 
from the ranges with chattering and whistling calls, and again towards evening 
making their way back in rowdy mobs.” 
A. G. Campbell had already recorded : “ Sometimes appears in great 
numbers, being a winter visitor coming from the ranges where it nests. A 
flock of several scores appeared about May, 1900, and stayed for some time 
before moving on to another portion of the district. They are exceedingly 
noisy birds, and always attract attention by their curious manner of following 
one another in a long line when flying. Being insectivorous, such a company 
must do an immense amount of good in the district where they sojourn.” 
Cochrane writing from Cooktown, N. Queensland, stated : “ Here 21st 
May ; in large numbers, 27th May ; a few, 12th October.” 
Cornwall wrote from Mackay, N. Queensland : “ The mournful cry of 
the Pied Crow-Shrike may be heard on many of the large islands off the coast, 
but so far I have not met with the bird on the mainland. On 9th November 
we found them nesting on L. Island, but in each case the nest was placed 
far out on thin horizontal branches of pine trees overhanging a very high cliff. 
On 25th November a nest was secured which contained three fresh eggs.” 
Campbell and White, reporting the birds of the Capricorn Group, Queens- 
land, wrote : “ As in the case of the Sea Eagles, a pair of this Strepera appeared 
to occupy one or other of the principal islands. On Mast Head a pair 
occasionally approached the camp, and it was pleasant, at times, to hear their 
loud, familiar calls, or sometimes a clear, single whistle-like note, especially 
at early morn (10 minutes to 5 o’clock). On first landing at North-West 
Island we heard a very full liquid note coming from the dense scrub, which 
resembled the call of some Honey-Eater, but much surprise was expressed 
next day to find that the call was that of the Pied Crow-Shrike. A colony, * 
apparently, of these birds had taken up their abode on North-West Island, 
and had brought up young for many years. During the heat of the d^y these 
birds kept to the cool shade of the high Pisonias, but in the early morning 
and evening they frequented the coast line. The Strepera family have a strong 
odour as a rule, but the birds inhabiting the islands had a decided musky 
odour resembling that of the Mutton-Bird — a circumstance worth following 
up, for one reason. Birds, for instance, collected on Kangaroo Island (S.A.) 
did not possess this peculiar smell. Did the Crow-Shrikes obtain their Petrel 
perfume by some connection with their (the Mutton-Birds’) burrows ? ” 
Broadbent recorded it from Dalrymple’s Gap mountains, Cardwell district, 
and Campbell and Barnard added : “ The Pied Bell-Magpie appeared to be 
confined to the ranges where it was feeding upon native figs and other wild 
fruits. Ramsay probably made an error in recording S. anaphonensis ( cunei - 
eaudata) for this region.” 
411 
