CRACTICUS. 
63 
from the ground. Eggs three in number for a sitting, and 
varying in tint from reddish-brown to apple-green. A line set of 
these eggs taken by Mr. James Ramsay at Tyndarie, on the 21st 
of September J880, are of a faded apple-green ground colour, 
minutely freckled, and thickly spotted with light umber, brownish- 
black, and slaty-grey, the latter colour appearing as if beneath 
the surface of the shell; a few foreign-looking black spots are 
scattered over the larger end, which appear common to all the 
eggs of this genus; these spots are easily removed by wetting 
them. Length (A) 1‘28 x 0'97 inch ; (B) 1-26 x 093 inch ; (C) 
1-27 x 097 inch. 
The breeding season commences in September and continues 
the three following months. 
Hub. Derby, N.W. Australia, Gulf of Carpentaria, Rockingham 
Bay, Port Denison, Wide Bay District, Dawson River, Richmond 
and Clarence River Districts, New South Wales, Interior, Victoria 
and South Australia. {Ramsay.) 
CRACTTCUS CINEREUS, Gould. 
Ashy-grey Crow-shrike. 
Gould, Handbk. lids. Aust., Vol. i., sp. 100, p. 18G. 
This is the Tasmanian representative of the Australian form of 
G. destructor, and both the manner of its nidification and the 
number of its eggs for a sitting are precisely similar. I give the 
description of two varieties of eggs now before me, taken from 
different nests near Hobart, in September 1885. 
Var. A. Ground colour dull asparagus-green, with indistinct 
chestnut spots and markings, particularly towards the larger end, 
where they form a confluent patch on the apex. Length 1-25 x 
0-93 inch. 
Var. B. A large specimen, ground colour light reddish-brown, 
thickly covered all over with markings of a darker tint, and a few 
