The flesh of this species is frequently eaten by the colonists, and is by some considered a delicacy. Of all the species of this singular and well-defined genus, the present, although not the largest in stature, is by far the handsomest, its markings being more clearly defined and the tints of its plumage more rich and contrasted than those of any of its congeners, the black being as deep as jet, and the white pure and unspotted; it differs also from all its allies yet discovered in having the basal half of the primaries and the basal half and the tips of the tail-feathers together with those portions of the shafts pure white. The plumage of both sexes at all ages is so precisely similar, that by dissection alone can we distinguish the male from his mate, or the young from the adult; the female is, however, always a trifle less in all her admeasurements, and the young birds have the corners of the mouth more fleshy and of a brighter yellow than the adults. All the plumage fine bluish black with the exception of the basal half of the primaries, the basal half and the tips of the tail-feathers, including those portions of their shafts and the under tail-coverts which are snow-white; irides beautiful yellow; bill and feet black. [Illustration: STREPERA FULIGINOSA: _Gould_. _J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith._ _Hullmandel & Walton Imp._ ] STREPERA FULIGINOSA, _Gould_. Sooty Crow-Shrike. _Cracticus fuliginosus_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part IV. p. 106. _Coronica fuliginosa_, Gould in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part I. _Black Magpie_, of the Colonists. The great stronghold of this species is the island of Van Diemen’s Land, in which it is a permanent resident; but its range extends to the islands in Bass’s Straits, and a few individuals have been found in South Australia. Its browner colouring, more arched and gibbose bill, its smaller size, and the absence of the white colouring of the under tail-coverts and of the base of the primaries, are characters by which it may at once be distinguished from all the other members of the group. The localities it frequents are also of a different description, those preferred being low swampy grounds in the neighbourhood of the sea and woods bordering rivers. Like the other species of the genus, it subsists on insects and grubs of various kinds, to which pulpy seeds and berries are frequently added. It is very active on the ground, running over the surface with a motion between a run and a hop with great rapidity. It breeds in the low trees, constructing a large, deep and cup-shaped nest very similar to that of the European Crow, and lays three eggs, of a pale vinous brown marked all over with large irregular blotches of brown, one inch and five-eighths long by one inch and a quarter broad. Its note is much less shrill than that of the _Strepera arguta_.