Black Magpie--
<i>Strepera fuliginosa</i>, Gould; and
<i>S. arguta</i>, Gould.
1859. H. Kingsley, `Geoffr/e/y Hamlyn,' vol. ii. p. 314
[Footnote]:
"Magpie, a large, pied crow.Of all the birds I have ever seen,
the cleverest, the most grotesque, and the most musical. The
splendid melody of his morning and evening song is as
unequalled as it is indescribable."
1869. B. Hoare, `Figures of Fancy,' p. 97:
"Gay magpies chant the livelong day."
1886. T. Heney, `Fortunate Days,' p. 47:
"The magpie swells from knoll or silent brake
His loud sweet tune."
1887. `Melbourne Punch,' March 31:
"The magpie maketh mute
His mellow fluent flute,
Nor chaunteth now his leuconotic hymn."
<hw>Magpie-Goose</hw>, <i>n</i>. a common name for the
Australian Goose, <i>Anseranus melanoleuca</i>, Lath.; called
also <i>Swan-goose</i>, and <i>Pied goose</i>.
See <i>Goose</i>.
<hw>Magpie-Lark</hw>, <i>n</i>. an Australian black-and-white
bird (<i>Grallina picata</i>, Lath.), resembling the Magpie in
appearance, but smaller; called also <i>Pee-wee</i>, and
<i>Mudlark</i>, from its building its nest of mud.
1888. Cassell's `Picturesque Australasia,' vol. ii. p. 235:
"The little magpie-lark. . . . His more elegant and graceful
figure remains in modest silence by the hedgerow in the
outskirts."
<hw>Magpie-Perch</hw>, <i>n</i>. a West Australian, Victorian,
and Tasmanian fish, <i>Chilodactylus gibbosus</i>, Richards.;
not a true Perch, but of family <i>Cirrhitidae</i>.
<hw>Magra</hw>, <i>n</i>. aboriginal name for the sling or
pouch in which the gins carry their children on their backs.
1845. R. Howitt, `Australia,' p. 185:
"Other lesser brats were in magras, gipsy-like, at their
mothers' backs."