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Cracticus
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Cracticus is a genus of butcherbirds native to Australasia. They are large songbirds, being between in length. Their colour ranges from black-and-white to mostly black with added grey plumage, depending on the species. They have a large, straight bill with a distinctive hook at the end which is used to skewer prey. They have high-pitched complex songs, which are used to defend their essentially year-round group territories: unlike birds of extratropical Eurasia and the Americas, both sexes sing prolifically.
Species
Australian Magpie
GENUS
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumChordata
- ClassAves
- OrderPasseriformes
- FamilyCracticidae
via GBIF
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Cracticus is a genus of butcherbirds native to Australasia. They are large songbirds, being between in length. Their colour ranges from black-and-white to mostly black with added grey plumage, depending on the species. They have a large, straight bill with a distinctive hook at the end which is used to skewer prey. They have high-pitched complex songs, which are used to defend their essentially year-round group territories: unlike birds of extratropical Eurasia and the Americas, both sexes sing prolifically.
==Taxonomy== The genus Cracticus was introduced by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1816 with the hooded butcherbird (Cracticus cassicus) as the type species. The name is from the Ancient Greek kraktikos meaning "noisy" or "clamorous".