Part 9

The Black-throated Crow-Shrike finds a natural asylum in New South Wales, the only one of the Australian colonies in which it has yet been found, and where it is by no means rare, although the situations it affects render it somewhat local; it is a stationary species, breeding in all parts of the country suitable to its habits and mode of life; districts of rich land known as apple-tree flats, and low open undulating hills studded with large trees, are the kind of districts to which it peculiarly resorts: hence the cow-pastures at Camden, the fine park-like estate of Charles Throsby, Esq., at Bong-bong, and the entire district of the Upper Hunter, are among the localities in which it may always be found.

It is usually seen in pairs, and from its active habits and conspicuous pied plumage, forms a rather striking object among the trees, the lower and outspreading branches of which are much more frequented by it than the higher ones; from these lower branches it often descends to the ground in search of insects and small lizards, which however form but a portion of its food, for as its powerful and strongly-hooked bill would lead us to infer, prey of a more formidable kind is often resorted to; its sanguinary disposition, in fact, leads it to feed on young birds, mice, and other small quadrupeds, which it soon kills, tears piecemeal and devours on the spot; wounded individuals on being handled inflict severe blows and lacerations on the hands of the captor, unless great care be taken to avoid them.

The nest, which is rather large and round, is very similar to that of the European Jay; those I examined were outwardly composed of sticks, neatly lined with fine fibrous roots, and generally placed on a low horizontal branch among the thick foliage.

The eggs are dark yellowish brown, spotted and clouded with markings of a darker hue, and in some instances with a few minute spots of black; their medium length is one inch and three lines by eleven lines in breadth.

The breeding-season commences in August, and continues during the four following months.

The sexes are so precisely alike in colouring, that although on comparison the female is found to be rather less than the male in all her admeasurements, they can only be distinguished with certainty by dissection.

Head, neck and chest black; hinder part of the neck, shoulders, centre of the wing, rump and under surface white; two middle tail-feathers entirely black, the remainder black largely tipped with white; bill lead-colour at the base, black at the tip; legs black; irides brown.

The young during the first autumn are very different from the adult, particularly in the colouring of the head and chest, which is light brown instead of black; the bill, as in most youthful birds, is also very different, the basal portion being dark fleshy brown instead of lead-colour.

The Plate represents a male and female of the natural size.

CRACTICUS PICATUS. Pied Crow-Shrike.

_Cracticus picatus_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., February 22, 1848.

_Ka-ra-a-ra_, Aborigines of Port Essington.

_Magpie_, of the Colonists.

This is in every respect a miniature representative of the _Cracticus nigrogularis_ of New South Wales; it must, however, be regarded as a distinct species; its much more diminutive size will warrant such a conclusion from every ornithologist who compares them.

It was found at Port Essington by Mr. Gilbert, where it exists in considerable abundance. He states that it is an extremely shy and wary bird, inhabiting the most secluded parts of the forest, and is as frequently seen searching for its food on the ground as among the topmost branches of the highest trees. In its habits, manners, mode of flight, and in its loud, discordant, organ-pipe-like voice, it closely resembles the other members of the genus. It is usually seen in pairs, or in small families of four or five. Its nest is built of sticks in the upright fork of a thickly-foliaged tree, at about thirty or forty feet from the ground.

The stomach is muscular, and the food consists of insects of various kinds, but principally of coleoptera.

The sexes are not to be distinguished by any markings in the plumage, but the young are dressed in a brown colouring like those of the other members of the genus.

Collar at the back of the neck, centre and edge of the wing, rump, abdomen, under tail-coverts and tips of all but the centre tail-feathers white, remainder of the plumage deep black; irides dark reddish brown; bill ash-grey, the tip black; legs and feet dark greenish grey.

The Plate represents the two sexes of the natural size.

CRACTICUS ARGENTEUS, _Gould_. Silvery-backed Butcher-Bird.

_Cracticus argenteus_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part VIII. p. 126.

Examples of this new species were discovered on the north coast of Australia, both by Captain Grey and B. Bynoe, Esq., to the latter of whom I am indebted for one of the specimens from which my figures were taken.

The _Cracticus argenteus_ is directly intermediate in size between _Cracticus destructor_ and _Cracticus nigrogularis_, and moreover exhibits a remarkable participation in the colouring of those two species; having the white throat and chest of the former, and the parti-coloured wings, conspicuous white rump, and white-tipped tail of the latter; it differs, however, from both, as well as from all the other members of the genus, in the light or silvery grey colouring of the back, and hence the term of _argenteus_ has been applied to it.

No account of its habits has yet been received, but they doubtless resemble those of the other species of the genus.

Crown of the head, ear-coverts, shoulders, primaries, and all the tail-feathers for three-fourths of their length from the base, black; back silvery grey; throat, all the under surface, sides of the neck, some of the wing-coverts and the margins of several of the secondaries, rump, and tips of the tail-feathers pure white; bill horn-colour; feet blackish brown.

The figures are of the natural size.

CRACTICUS DESTRUCTOR. Butcher-Bird.

_Vanga destructor_, Temm. Man., Part I. p. lix.—Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 213.—Gould in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part I.

_Barita destructor_, Temm. Pl. Col. 273.

_Wäd-do-wäd-ong_, Aborigines of the lowland districts of Western Australia.

_Butcher-Bird_, of the Colonists of Swan River.

This bird is a permanent resident in New South Wales and South Australia, where it inhabits the margins of the brushy lands near the coast, the sides of hills, and the belts of trees which occur in the more open parts of the country; in fact I scarcely know of any Australian bird so generally dispersed. Its presence is at all times betrayed by its extraordinary note, a jumble of discordant sounds impossible to be described. It is nearly always on the trees, where it sits motionless on some dead or exposed branch whence it can survey all around, and particularly the surface of the ground beneath, to which it makes perpendicular descents to secure any large insect or lizard that may attract its sharp and penetrating eye; it usually returns to the same branch to devour what it has captured, but at times will resort to other trees and impale its victim after the manner of the true Shrikes: mice, small birds, and large _Phasmiæ_ come within the list of its ordinary diet. September and the three following months constitute the period of incubation. The nest, which is large and cup-shaped, is neatly formed of sticks, and in some instances beautifully lined with the shoots of the _Casuarina_ and fibrous roots. Considerable difference is found to exist in the colour of the eggs, the ground colouring of some being dark yellowish brown, with obscure blotches and marks of a darker hue, and here and there a few black marks not unlike small blots of ink; while in others the ground colour is much lighter and the darker markings are more inclined to red, and to form a zone round the larger end; the eggs are generally three in number, one inch and three lines long by eleven lines broad.

Under ordinary circumstances this species is very shy and retiring, but at times is altogether as bold; as an evidence of which I may mention, that having caught a young _Eöpsaltria_ and placed it in my pocket, the cries of the little captive attracted the attention of one of these birds, which continued to follow me through the woods for more than an hour, when the little tenant, disliking its close quarters, effected its escape and flitted away before me: I immediately gave chase; but the Butcher-bird, who had been following me, pounced down within two yards of my face and bore off the poor bird to a neighbouring tree, and although I ran to the rescue, it was of no avail, the prize being borne away from tree to tree until the tyrant paid the forfeit of his life by being shot for his temerity.

The sexes are so similar in appearance, that it is impossible to distinguish one from the other by any other means than dissection.

The male has the crown of the head, ear-coverts and back of the neck black; a white mark from the base of the bill to the eye; back and rump dark greyish brown; upper tail-coverts white; wings blackish brown; the middle secondaries white along their outer edges; tail black, all the feathers except the two middle ones tipped with white on their inner webs; under surface greyish white; bill bluish lead-colour at the base, passing into black at the tip; feet blackish lead-colour; irides very dark reddish brown.

The female resembles the male, but is more obscure in all her markings; and the young differ in being clothed in a plumage of mottled tawny and brown.

The figures represent the two sexes of the natural size.

CRACTICUS QUOYII. Quoy’s Crow-Shrike.

_Barita Quoyi_, Less. Zool. de la Coq., tom. i. p. 639. pl. 24.—Ib. Traité d’Orn., p. 345.

_Mol-göl-ga_, Aborigines of Port Essington.

We have abundant evidence that New Guinea and the continent of Australia belong to one and the same group of islands, and that both countries are adorned with similar forms of botany and zoology. In some instances the same species are found to inhabit both countries, and of this fact the present bird is an example. M. Temminck, to whom I showed specimens killed in Australia, assured me that they were identical with those from New Guinea. The northern coast is the only portion of Australia in which this bird has been observed. It is tolerably abundant at Port Essington, where it inhabits the mangrove swamps generally, even those close to the settlement.

Mr. Gilbert states that it is one of the most shy and wary birds that can well be imagined; and that the nature of its usual haunts precludes in a great measure all chance of getting a sight of it. He has never met with it in any other situation than the darkest and thickest parts of the mangroves, where there is a great depth of mud, and where the roots of the trees are very thickly intertwined; it is among these roots that it is constantly seen searching for crabs. Its note is short and monotonous, and very like the name given to it by the aborigines, _Mol-göl-ga_, the second syllable being prolonged and forming the highest note; it also utters other sounds, some of them resembling those of the _Cracticus leuconotus_; at other times it frequently emits a note very similar to the cry of young birds for food.

The stomach is muscular, and the food consists of crabs, and occasionally of coleoptera, neuroptera, and the larvæ of insects of various kinds.

The entire plumage black, each feather of the upper and under surface broadly margined with deep glossy green; irides dark reddish brown; bill very light ash-grey, passing into leaden grey at the base, and dark bluish grey on the culmen near the tip; legs and feet greenish grey.

The bill appears to vary very much in colour; being in some instances entirely ash-grey, except at the tip, where it is black; while in others the basal two-thirds is black and the tip grey: whether this difference is occasioned by age or sex has not yet been ascertained.

The figure represents a male of the natural size.

GRALLINA AUSTRALIS, _G. R. Gray_. Pied Grallina.

_Gracula picata_, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp., p. 29.

_Pied Grakle_, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p. 130.—Ib. Gen. Hist., vol. iii. p. 169.

_Tanypus Australis_, Oppel.

_Grallina melanoleuca_, Vieill. Anal. d’une Nouv. Orn., pp. 42 and 68.—Ib. Gal. des Ois., pl. 150.—Ib. 2nde Edit. du Dict. d’Hist. Nat., tom. xiii. p. 41. pl. F. 32.—Ib. Ency. Méth. Orn., Part II. p. 693.—Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 233.

_Grallina bicolor_, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 233.

_Grallina Australis_, G. R. Gray, List of Gen. of Birds, 2nd Edit. p. 33.

_Grallina picata_, Strickl. in Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. ii. p. 335.

_Corvus cyanoleucos_, Lath. Gen. Hist. vol. iii. p. 49?

_Magpie Lark_, Colonists of New South Wales.

_Little Magpie_, Colonists of Swan River.

_Bÿ-yoo-göol-yee-de_, Aborigines of the lowland, and

_Dil̈-a-but_, Aborigines of the mountain districts of Western Australia.

Future research will, in all probability, establish the fact of this bird being universally dispersed over the greater portion of Australia; I have specimens in my collection from New South Wales, Swan River, and Port Essington, all of which are so closely alike that no character of sufficient importance to establish a second species can be detected. Those that came under my observation in New South Wales were never seen very near the coast, but frequented the rich alluvial flats and sides of the creeks and rivulets of the interior.

Few of the Australian birds are more attractive than the present, or more elegant and graceful in its actions, and these, combined with its tame and familiar disposition, must ever obtain for it the friendship and protection of the settlers, whose verandahs and house-tops it constantly visits, running along the latter like the Pied Wagtail of our own island; in fact, the two birds, except in size, are very similar. Mr. Gilbert states that in Western Australia he observed it congregated in large families on the banks and muddy flats of the lakes around Perth, while in the interior he only met with it in pairs, or at most in small groups of not more than four or five together; he further observes, that at Port Essington, on the north coast, it would seem to be only an occasional visitant, for on his arrival there in July it was tolerably abundant round the lakes and swamps, but from the setting-in of the rainy season in November to his leaving that part of the country in the following March not an individual was to be seen; it is evident therefore that the bird removes from one locality to another according to the season and the more or less abundance of its peculiar food. I believe it feeds solely upon insects of various kinds, particularly aquatic grubs, grasshoppers, and coleoptera generally.

The flight of the _Grallina_ is very peculiar, and unlike that of any other Australian bird that has come under my notice; it much resembles that of the Common Pewit of Europe, and is performed with the same heavy flapping motion of the wings; still the flight of the two birds differs materially during their passage through the air, the _Grallina_ passing noiselessly and generally in a straight line, while the Pewit makes sudden turns and dips,—a peculiarity in its mode of flight which must have been noticed by all who have seen the bird on the wing.

Its natural note is a peculiarly shrill whining whistle often repeated.

The nest may be regarded as one of the anomalies of Australia, so unlike is it to anything usually met with; it is from five to six inches in breadth and three in depth, and is formed of soft mud, which soon becoming hard and solid upon exposure to the atmosphere has precisely the appearance of a massive clay-coloured earthenware vessel; as if to attract notice, this singular structure is generally placed on some bare horizontal branch, often on the one most exposed to view, sometimes overhanging water and at others in the open forest. The colour of the nest varies with that of the material of which it is formed: sometimes the clay or mud is sufficiently tenacious to be used without any other material, but in those situations where no mud or clay is to be obtained it is constructed of black or brown mould; the bird, appearing to be aware that this substance will not hold together for want of the adhesive quality of the clay, mixes with it a great quantity of dried grass, stalks, &c., and thus forms a firm and hard exterior, the inside of which is slightly lined with dried grasses and a few feathers. The eggs differ considerably in colour and in shape, some being extremely lengthened, while others bear a relative proportion; the ground-colour of some is a beautiful pearl-white, of others a slight tinge of buff; their markings again differ considerably in form and in their disposition, being in some instances wholly confined to the larger end, in others distributed over the whole of the surface, but always inclined to form a zone at the larger end; in some these markings are of a deep chestnut-red, in others light red with large clouded spots of grey appearing as if beneath the surface of the shell. The eggs are generally four, but sometimes are only two in number; their medium length is one inch and three lines, and their breadth nine lines. It breeds in October and November.

Although the sexes are very similar in size, the female may at all times be distinguished from the male by her white forehead and throat, a fact I determined many times by actual dissection, thus showing the fallacy of the opinion entertained by some naturalists of their being two distinct species.

The male has a line over the eye, a patch on each side of the neck, a longitudinal stripe on the wing, tips of the secondaries, rump, upper tail-coverts, the basal two-thirds and the tips of the tail, under surface of the shoulder, breast, flanks, abdomen and under tail-coverts white, the remainder of the plumage black with a deep bluish tinge on the head, throat, chest and back, and a green tinge on the primaries and tail; bill yellowish white; irides straw-yellow; feet black.

The female differs in having the forehead, lores and chin white. The young on leaving the nest have the irides black; in other respects they resemble their parents, but are of course far less brilliant in colour.

The figures represent the two sexes of the natural size.

GRAUCALUS MELANOPS. Black-faced Graucalus.

_Corvus melanops_, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp., p. xxiv. no. 1.

_Ceblepyris melanops_, Temm. Man., p. lxii.

_Rollier à masque noir_, Le Vaill. Ois. de Parad., pl. 30.

_Black-faced Crow_, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. p. 116.—Ib. Gen. Hist., vol. iii. p. 46.

_Graucalus melanops_, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 216.—Gould in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part IV.

_Kai-a-lora_, Aborigines of New South Wales.

_Nu-lär-go_, Aborigines of the lowland, and

_Nü-laarg_, Aborigines of the mountain districts of Western Australia.

_Blue Pigeon_ of the Colonists.

New South Wales, Van Diemen’s Land, Swan River and Port Essington are each inhabited by _Graucali_ so nearly allied to the present bird, that by many persons it would be considered questionable whether they were not referable to one and the same species; but as this is by no means certain, I shall confine my remarks to the bird inhabiting New South Wales, which is one of the largest of the genus yet discovered, and distinguished from its near allies by the greater depth of the blue-grey colouring of the upper surface.

The _Graucalus melanops_, then, is a very common bird in New South Wales, but is far less numerous in winter than in summer, when it is so generally dispersed over the colony, that to particularize situations in which it may be found is quite unnecessary; hills of moderate elevation, flats and plains thinly covered with large trees being alike resorted to; but I do not recollect encountering it in the midst of the thick brushes,—situations which, probably, are uncongenial to its habits and mode of life. On the plains of the interior, such as the Liverpool and those which stretch away to the northward and eastward of New South Wales, it is more abundant than within the colony.

Its flight is undulating and powerful, but is seldom exerted for any other purpose than that of conveying it from one part of the forest to another, or to sally forth in pursuit of an insect which may pass within range of its vision while perched upon some dead branch of a high tree, a habit common to this bird and the other members of the genus. On this elevated perch it sometimes remains for hours together; but during the heat of the day seeks shelter from the rays of the sun by shrouding itself amidst the dense foliage of the trees. Its food consists of insects and their larvæ, and berries, but the former appear to be preferred, all kinds being acceptable, from the large Mantis figured in the accompanying Plate, to others of a minute size. One of the specimens I procured was shot while in the act of flying off with the insect figured.

As much diversity occurs in the colouring of the face and throat of this species before it arrives at maturity, I made a point of minutely investigating the subject during my stay in New South Wales, and the following is the result of my observations. When the young, which are generally two in number, leave the nest, the feathers of the body are brown, margined with light grey; this colouring is soon exchanged for one of a uniform grey, except on the lower part of the abdomen and under tail-coverts, which are white, and a mark of black which surrounds the eye and spreads over the ears: the throat and forehead in this stage are lighter than the remainder of the plumage, which is somewhat singular, as in the next change that takes place those parts become of a jet-black; and this colour, I believe, is never afterwards thrown off, but remains a characteristic of the adult state of both sexes, which are at all times so similar in size and colour as not to be distinguished from each other.

It breeds in October and the three following months. The nest is often of a triangular form, in consequence of its being made to fit the angle of the fork of the horizontal branch in which it is placed; it is entirely composed of small dead twigs, firmly matted together with a very fine, white, downy substance like cobwebs and a species of _Lichen_, giving the nest the same appearance as the branch upon which it is placed, and rendering it most difficult of detection. In some instances I have found the nest ornamented with the broad, white, mouse-eared Lichen; it is extremely shallow in form, its depth and breadth depending entirely upon that of the fork in which it is built; the largest I have seen did not exceed six inches in diameter.