GREY CROW-SHRIKE. 
In the meanwhile, a specimen collected by the earliest French voyageurs 
had been deposited in the Paris Museum and was named Cracticus cuneicau- 
datus by Vieillot. Cuvier also referred to it as “ a new species with a wedge 
tail.” Temminck described it under the name Barita anaphonesis and stated 
that the wedge-shaped tail of the specimen in the Paris Museum, mentioned 
by Cuvier, was due to the specimen being in full moult and that in good 
plumage the tail was little wedge-shaped. Temminck, owing to his antagonism 
to Vieillot and all his works, did not mention that the species had been already 
named by Vieillot. 
On account of the authority of Temminck, his name came into use and 
remained so for fifty years, when Sharpe revived Vieillot’s name and used it 
in the “ Catalogue of Birds” in the British Museum, and for the next thirty 
years Vieillot’s name was used. Sharpe then indicated the acceptance of the 
Lathamian name which seems usable, and this has been used since by myself, 
and I regard the previously named species argula Gould and plumbea Gould 
as subspecific forms. It is worthy of note again that while the former was 
always upheld as a species on account of larger size, Gould rejected the latter 
as a synonym. A rather remarkable comcidence needs mention : 
When Sharpe monographed the “ Crows ” he described as a new species 
Strepera intermedia , a form from Port Lincoln, South Australia. This form 
was well described and was included in Australian Lists but never recognised. 
Nearly thirty years after its description it was noticed by South Australian 
ornithologists that the Strepera inhabiting Eyre’s Peninsula was different 
from any other. Ashby wrote me : “It appears to be an intermediate form 
between S. plumbea and melanoptera. The plumage is brownish and it has 
the white patch on the wing.” This is almost the same decision as that upon 
which Sharpe based his species S. intermedia , which was not referred to. 
In my “ Reference List ” 1912, I admitted five subspecies thus : 
Strepera versicolor versicolor (Latham). 
Queensland, New South Wales. 
Strepera versicolor arguta Gould. 
Tasmania. 
Strepera versicolor vieilloti Mathews. 
“ Differs from C. v. versicolor in its darker coloration above and below, 
with a longer bill. (Olinda) Victoria.” 
Victoria, South Australia. 
Strepera versicolor intermedia Sharpe. 
South Australia. 
Strepera versicolor plumbea Gould. 
West Australia. 
VOL. x. 
433 
