Sooty black, white on wing only; eyes red; f., sim. Mud nest. Insects, fruits, seeds. Low, mournful whistle. F. 165. STREPERIDAE (7), BELL-MAGPIES, Streperas, Crow-Shrikes, 7 sp. A. 7 7 =392* Pied Bell-Magpie= (Crow-Shrike), Currawong. Mutton-Bird (e), _Strepera graculina_, E.A., Lord Howe Is. Nom. r. _timber_ 18.5 Black; white patch on wing, upper base tail, under base tail, tip tail; eye yellow; f., smaller. Berries, fruit, insects. =393 Black-winged Bell-Magpie= (Crow-Shrike), _S. melanoptera_, V., S.A., Kangaroo Is. Stat. v.r. _scrub_ 19 Black, white tip tail, under base tail; f., smaller. Insects. =394* Gray Bell-Magpie= (Crow-Shrike), Gray Magpie, Rain-Bird, Squeaker, _S. versicolor (cuneicaudata)_, E.A. Stat. v.c. _timber_, _orchard_ 19 Gray; white on wing, tip tail, under base tail; eye orange; f., sim. Insects, fruit. Loud, ringing notes. "It's-going-to-rain." "Two and two are four." Cree-e-ling, cree-e-ling. =395 Sooty Bell-Magpie= (Crow-Shrike), Black Magpie (e), _S. fuliginosa_, E.A., S.A., T., Bass St. Is. Stat. r. _timber_ 18 Sooty black; white in wing, tip tail; eye yellow; big bill black; f., sim. Insects, fruit. ==== This concludes a necessarily brief outline of the classification of the Birds of Australia, and, incidentally, of the birds of the world, for, while the Emu is one of the most primitive of birds placed right at the foot, the Bell-Magpies (_Streperas_) are placed at the very summit of the avine tree. Australians! Realize that you live in a land favored far beyond most as regards birds, and that you have a duty to perform in preserving as many as possible of these unique, interesting, and valuable forms for posterity. Teachers! Your influence is more potent than all the legislation. Bird lovers already freely acknowledge the fundamental change that has come over the schoolboy since the introduction of nature-study, and they look to you with confidence to extend greatly the good work of cultivating an interest and a pride in things Australian, for this interest will eradicate the once almost-universal, but now rapidly-disappearing, desire for slaughter of anything wearing a feather. If women could be persuaded to come in line with the once destructive schoolboy in this respect, the bird lover and the well-wisher of his country would have further cause for gratification, and our beautiful birds a further enjoyment of a useful, indeed, often a necessary life, one necessary to the welfare of the agriculturist and the pastoralist, as well as of all dwellers in this fair, sunny land of ours.