CORCORAX. 
189 
altogether without markings, or with only one or two blackish 
specks. A set of four measure as follows : — length 1-26 x 0-85 
inch; 1-18 x 0-85 inch ; 1*27 x 0-88 inch; 1*18 x 0*85 inch.” 
(Ramsay, P.L.S., JV.S.W., Yol. vii., p. 40G.) 
I found these birds in great numbers on tho Bell and Macquarie 
Rivers, during August 1887, congregating in small companies of 
six or seven in number, making the bush resound with their 
peculiar harsh grating cries when flying. 
Sab. Gulf of Carpentaria, New South Wales, Interior, Victoria 
and South Australia. ( Ramsay.) 
Genus CORCORAX, Lesson. 
CORCORAX MELANORHAMPHUS, Vieillot. 
White-winged Corcorax. 
Gould, Handbk. Bds. Aust., Yol. i., sp. 288, p. 470. 
This bird is plentifully distributed throughout New South 
Wales, building its large bowl-shaped structure of mud on the 
horizontal branch of a tree, in any convenient situation. The 
usual number of eggs for a sitting is four, but as many as eight 
have been taken from one nest, it would therefore appear that 
more than one bird lays in a single nest; it is well known that 
often more than one pair of birds assists in the construction of 
one nest. Ground colour of eggs dull-white, blotched all over 
beneath the surface of the shell with deep bluish-black markings; 
on the outer surface the blotches become larger, but fewer, and 
vary from olive-brown to blackish-brown in tint; the shell of 
the eggs being rough. Size of a set of four taken at Macquarie 
Fields; length (A) 1*56 x 1 *16 inch ; (B) 1*5 x MS inch ; (C) 
1-51 x 1*18 inch; (D) 1*53 x 1-13 inch. 
The breeding season commences in August, and lasts during 
the three following months. 
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