GREY JUMPER. 
secondaries brownish-ash, fringed with brownish-olive on the outer webs; sides 
of the face, ear-coverts, chin, throat and fore-neck leaden-grey tipped with light 
grey; remainder of the under-surface of the body leaden-grey, slightly tinged 
with olive in some lights. Eyes brown, bill and feet black. Total length 335 mm. ; 
culmen 21, wing 151, tail 160, tarsus 43. Eigured. Collected in North Queensland, 
and is the type of S, c. swainsoni. 
In tliis form the head is almost uniform with the back. 
Advlt male. Top of the head, sides of the face and back of the neck dark grey, each 
feather tipped with lavender-grey, producing a spangled appearance; back, wing- 
coverts and scapulars brownish-ash ; rump and upper tail-coverts leaden-grey; 
tail-feathers long and broad, black in colour, slightly glossed with steel-blue; 
primaries ash-brown, margined on the outer web with whitish-brown; secondaries 
brownish-ash, slightly glossed on the outer webs with greenish-bronze; chin, 
throat and fore-neck similar to the head, remainder of the under-surface of the 
bodj^ dark lavender-grey, darkest on the sides and flanks. Eyes light brown, bill, 
legs and feet black. Total length 300 mm. ; culmen 21, wing 150, tail 160, tarsus 
39. Figured. Collected at Forbes, New South Wales, in September, 1907. 
In this form the head is darker than the rest of the back. 
Advil feiTiale. Similar to the male, but a trifle smaller, and with the head and mantle 
darker. Eyes yellow-brown, bill, legs and feet black. Total length 290 mm. ; 
culmen 21, wing 137, tail 146, tarsus 39. Collected at Forbes, New South Wales, 
in September, 1907, and is a pair with the male. 
Eggs. Five to eight eggs form the clutch. A clutch of six eggs taken at Bando, near 
Gunnedah, New South Wales, on the 1st of October, 1908, is of a very pale bluish- 
white ground-colour, and sparingly marked with short smudges or briish-Uke 
streaks of blackish-umber and dull purple ; the markings, with few exceptions, 
confining themselves to the larger ends of the eggs. Ovals in shape. Surface 
of shell rather coarse and possessing a little gloss. 27-30 by 21-22 mm. 
Nest. A bowl- or deep basin-shaped structure, made of mud, bound together and 
reinforced with grass, etc., usually lined with a layer of very fine grass. The nest 
closely resembles that built by the Pied Grallina {Grallina picata)^ except that it 
is a lighter and more neatly made and finished structure. It is usually placed on 
a horizontal limb of a tree, and at heights varying from 15 to 40 feet or more. 
The mud used is of various colours—^it all depends on the locality. Dimensions 
over all, varies from 5 to nearly 6 inches across by 3J to 4 inches in depth; while 
the egg cavity measures usually 4|- inches across by 2 to 2J inches deep. 
Breeding-montlis. August to December. 
This bird was simultaneously described by Gould and Swainson, each proposing 
a new genus for it and each selecting the same specific name. Gould did not 
give the source of his specimen, but SAvainson stated his AV-as “ Found by Mr. 
Allan Cunningham.” No field-notes Avere given, so that Gould’s appear to 
be the earliest as folloAvs: From Avhat I personally observed of this bird it 
would seem to be a species peculiar to the interior, and, so far as is yet loioAvn., 
confined to the southern and eastern portions of Australia. I found it inhabiting 
the pine ridges, as they are termed by the colonists, bordering the extensive 
plains of the Upper and Lower Namoi, and giving a decided preference to the 
Gallitris pyramidalis, a fine fix-like tree peculiar to the district. It was always 
seen in small companies of three or four together, on the topmost branches of 
423 
