All the members of the group build a flat slight nest of fine short dead twigs, curiously joined together with cobwebs, on which they lay two eggs.
_Graucalus melanotis_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. p. 143; and in Syn. Birds of Australia, Part IV. Young.
_Graucalus parvirostris_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., Part V. p. 143; and Syn. Birds of Australia, Part. IV.
Forehead, sides of the face and the throat jet black; crown of the head, all the upper surface and centre of the wings delicate grey; primaries and the inner webs of the secondaries deep brownish black, the former narrowly and the latter broadly margined with greyish white; tail grey at the base, passing into deep brownish black and largely tipped with white, the grey colour predominating on the two centre feathers, which are destitute of the white tips; chest grey, into which the black of the throat gradually passes; lower part of the abdomen, under surface of the wing and under tail-coverts white; flanks and thighs grey; bill and feet brownish black.
Total length, 12 inches; _bill_, 1½; _wing_, 7½; _tail_, 6; _tarsi_, 1.
101. Graucalus mentalis, _Vig. & Horsf._ Vol. II. Pl. 56. 102. Graucalus hypoleucus, _Gould_ Vol. II. Pl. 57. 103. Graucalus Swainsonii, _Gould_ Vol. II. Pl. 58.
_Bill_ small, shorter than the head, nearly cylindrical; _tomia_ curved and pointing downwards; a well-defined notch at the extremity of the upper mandible; _nostrils_ basal, round, and covered with the short feathers of the forehead; _wings_ long and pointed, the fourth feather the longest; _tail_ lengthened, the four middle and the lateral feather on each side shorter than the rest; _tarsi_ long, stout; _toes_ rather short, the inner toe longer than the outer one, hind-toe large and lengthened, the toe and nail nearly equalling in length the middle toe and nail.
The general structure of the only known species of this form resembles that of _Graucalus_ and of _Campephaga_, but the bill is so small as to be quite out of proportion with the body; its lengthened wings and tarsi adapt it both for flight and for moving rapidly over the surface of the ground.
104. Pteropodocys Phasianellus, _Gould_ Vol. II. Pl. 59.
Inhabits the whole of the interior of Southern Australia from east to west; the extent of its range northward has not been ascertained. It has many habits in common with the _Graucali_; but while those birds are destined for the trees the present bird is adapted for the ground, where it procures and feeds upon insects of various genera, particularly locusts and grasshoppers. It frequents the open plains in small companies of from three to six or eight in number, and is very animated in its actions, but at the same time most cautious and shy.