butcher-bird

Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris

n.


The name is in use elsewhere,but in Australia it is applied to the genus Cracticus.The varieties are – – The Butcher-bird – – Cracticus torquatus, Lath.; formerly C. destructor, Gould.

Black B. – – C. quoyi, Less.

Black-throated B. – – C. nigrigularis, Gould.

Grey B. (Derwent Jackass) – – C. cinereus, Gould (see Jackass).

Pied B. – – C. picatus, Gould.

Rufous B. – – C. rufescens, De Vis.

Silver-backed B. – – C. argenteus, Gould.

Spalding's B. – – C. spaldingi, Masters.

White-winged B. – – C. leucopterus, Cav.

The bird is sometimes called a Crow-shrike.

1827. Vigors and Horsfield, `Transactions of Linnaean Society,'vol. xv. p. 213:

«Mr. Caley observes – – Butcher-bird. This bird used frequentlyto come into some green wattle-trees near my house, and in wetweather was very noisy; from which circumstance it obtained thename of `Rain-bird.'»

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. ii. Pl. 52:

« Cracticus Destructor. Butcher Bird, name given bycolonists of Swan River, a permanent resident in New SouthWales and South Australia. I scarcely know of any Australianbird so generally dispersed.»

1885. H. Finch-Hatton, `Advance Australia,' p. 50:

«Close to the station one or two butcher-birds were pipingtheir morning song, a strange little melody with not manynotes, which no one who has heard it will ever forget.»

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