_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _Hullmandel & Walton Imp._
]
CORCORAX LEUCOPTERUS
White-winged Chough.
_Pyrrhocorax leucopterus_, Temm. Man. d’Orn., tom. i. p. 121.—Less.
Man. d’Orn., tom. i. p. 384.
_Fregilus leucopterus_, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p.
265.—Less. Man. d’Orn., tom. i. p. 384.
_Corcorax Australis_, Less. Traité d’Orn., p. 325.
—— _leucopterus_, G. R. Gray, List of Gen. of Birds, 2nd Edit., p. 52.
_Waybung_, Aborigines of New South Wales.
This bird is a stationary species, and appears to be distributed over
all parts of New South Wales and South Australia; it is very abundant in
the whole of the Upper Hunter district, and I have also killed it in the
interior of South Australia; it is usually met with in small troops of
from six to ten in number, feeding upon the ground, over which it runs
with considerable rapidity; the entire troop keeping together, but one
bird running before the other and searching for food with the most
scrutinizing care. In disposition it is one of the tamest of the larger
birds I ever encountered, readily admitting of a very close approach,
and then merely flying off to the low branch of some neighbouring tree.
During flight the white marking of the wing shows very conspicuously,
and on alighting the bird displays many curious actions, leaping from
branch to branch with surprising quickness, at the same time spreading
the tail and moving it up and down in a very singular manner; on being
disturbed it peeps and pries down upon the intruder below, and generally
utters a harsh, grating, disagreeable and tart note; at other times,
while perched among the branches of the trees, it makes the woods ring
with its peculiar hollow mournful pipe.
During the pairing-season the male becomes very animated, and his
manners so remarkable, that it would be necessary for my readers to
witness the bird in its native wilds to form a just conception of them:
while sitting on the same branch close to the female, he spreads out his
wings and tail to the fullest extent, lowers his head, puffs out his
feathers and displays himself to the utmost advantage, and when two or
more are engaged in these evolutions, the exhibition cannot fail to
amuse and delight the spectator. A winged specimen gave me more trouble
to catch than any other bird I ever chased; its power of passing over
the ground being so great, that it bounded on before me and cleared
every obstacle, hillocks and fallen trees, with the utmost facility.
The White-winged Chough is a very early breeder, and generally rears
more than one brood in a year, the breeding-season extending over the
months of August, September, October and November. The nest is a most
conspicuous fabric, composed of mud and straw, resembling a bason, and
is usually placed on the horizontal branch of a tree near to or
overhanging a brook. The eggs vary from four to seven in number, and are
of a yellowish white, boldly blotched all over with olive and purplish
brown, the latter tint appearing as if beneath the surface of the shell;
they are one inch and a half long by one inch and one line broad.
It has often struck me that more than one female deposited her eggs in
the same nest, as four or five females may be frequently seen either on
the same or the neighbouring trees, while only one nest is to be found.
The bird generally evinces a preference for open forest land, but during
the breeding-season affects the neighbourhood of brooks and lagoons,
which may be accounted for by the fact of such situations being
necessary to enable it to procure the mud wherewith to build its nest,
besides which they also afford it an abundance of insect food.
The whole of the plumage black, with glossy green reflections, with the
exception of the inner webs of the primaries, which are white for three
parts of their length from the base; irides scarlet; bill and feet
black.
The figure is that of a male somewhat less than the natural size.
[Illustration:
STRUTHIDEA CINEREA: _Gould_.
_J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]
STRUTHIDEA CINEREA, _Gould_.
Grey Struthidea.
_Struthidea cinerea_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part IV. p. 143;
and in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part I.—G. R. Gray, List of
Gen. of Birds, 2nd Edit., p. 51.
_Brachystoma cinerea_, Swains. An. in Menag., and Two Cent. and a
Quarter of New Birds, No. 51.—Class. of Birds, vol. ii. p.
266.
So little information has been obtained respecting this highly curious
bird, that my account of it must necessarily be very meagre. From what I
have personally observed, it would seem to be a species peculiar to the
interior, and so far as is yet known, confined to the south-eastern
portion of the Australian continent. 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 _Callitris pyramidalis_, a fine fir-like tree peculiar to the
district. Those I observed were always in small companies of three or
four together, on the topmost branches of the trees, and were extremely
quick and restless, the whole company leaping from branch to branch in
rapid succession, at the same time throwing up and expanding their tails
and wings; these actions were generally accompanied with a harsh
unpleasant note; their manners, in fact, closely resembled those of the
White-winged Chough and the _Pomatorhini_: a knowledge of its
nidification and the number and colour of its eggs would throw
considerable light upon the affinities of this curious form. I would,
therefore, particularly impress upon those who may reside in, or visit
the localities it inhabits, to pay especial attention to, and to make
known their observations upon, these points.
The food, as ascertained by dissection, was insects; the stomachs of
those examined were tolerably hard and muscular, and contained the
remains of coleoptera.
The sexes assimilate so closely in size and in the colouring of their
plumage, that they are to be distinguished only by dissection.
Head, neck, back, and under surface grey, each feather tipped with
lighter grey; wings brown; tail black, the middle feathers glossed with
deep rich metallic green; irides pearly white; bill and legs black.
The figures are of the natural size.
[Illustration: