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The pied butcherbird (''Cracticus nigrogularis'') is a medium-sized songbird native to Australia. It grows about 35 cm (14 in) long and has black and white plumage. The colour of juvenile birds, which are accompanied by their parents, is brown and white. As they mature their brown feathers are replaced by black feathers. It is common in woodlands and in urban environments. Its diet consists mostly of small vertebrates and insects. They are tame and inquisitive birds and have been known to accept food from humans. ==Taxonomy== The pied butcherbird was first described by the ornithologist John Gould in 1837 as ''Vanga nigrogularis'', the type specimen collected near Sydney.〔 It is one of six (or seven) members of the genus ''Cracticus'' known as butcherbirds. Within the genus, it is most closely related to the Tagula and hooded butcherbird. The three form a monophyletic group within the genus, having diverged from ancestors of the grey butcherbird around five million years ago. Two subspecies are recognised; The nominate race ''nigrogularis'' is found across eastern Australia,〔 and the smaller subspecies ''picatus'' is found in the Northern Territory, Western Australia and northern South Australia. The border between the two lies in the Gulf Country and is known as the Carpentarian Barrier. Although there is a demarcation in physical characters, this is not borne out genetically, and birds from northwestern Australia have affinities with the eastern subspecies. Analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequences indicates the pied butcherbird has expanded rapidly from many refugia during the Pleistocene. The butcherbirds, Australian magpie and currawongs were placed in the family Cracticidae in 1914 by John Albert Leach after he had studied their musculature. American ornithologists Charles Sibley and Jon Ahlquist recognised the close relationship between woodswallows and the butcherbirds in 1985, and combined them into a Cracticini clade, which became the family Artamidae. Black-throated butcherbird is an alternate common name. Leach also called it the black-throated crow shrike.〔()〕 ‘Jackeroo’ is a colloquial name from the Musgrave Ranges in Central Australia. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Pied butcherbird」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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