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The black currawong (''Strepera fuliginosa''), also known locally as the black jay, is a large passerine bird endemic to Tasmania and the nearby islands within the Bass Strait.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Black Currawong )〕 One of three currawong species in the genus ''Strepera'', it is closely related to the butcherbirds and Australian magpie within the family Artamidae. It is a large crow-like bird, around long on average, with yellow irises, a heavy bill, and black plumage with white wing patches. The male and female are similar in appearance. Three subspecies are recognised, one of which, ''Strepera fuliginosa colei'' of King Island, is vulnerable to extinction. Within its range, the black currawong is generally sedentary, although populations at higher altitudes relocate to lower areas during the cooler months. The habitat includes densely forested areas as well as alpine heathland. It is rare below altitudes of . Omnivorous, it has a diet that includes a variety of berries, invertebrates, and small vertebrates. Less arboreal than the pied currawong, the black currawong spends more time foraging on the ground. It roosts and breeds in trees. == Taxonomy == The black currawong was first described by ornithologist John Gould in 1836 as ''Cracticus fuliginosus'', and in 1837 as ''Coronica fuliginosa''.〔 Pl. 5.〕 The specific epithet is the Late Latin adjective ''fuliginosus'' "sooty" from Latin ''fūlīgo'' "soot", and refers to the black plumage.〔Higgins ''et al''., p. 556.〕 American ornithologist Dean Amadon regarded the black currawong as a subspecies of the pied currawong (''Strepera graculina''), seeing it as part of a continuum with subspecies ''ashbyi'' of the latter species, the complex having progressively less white plumage as one moves south. Subsequent authors have considered it a separate species,〔Higgins ''et al''., p. 563.〕 although Richard Schodde and Ian Mason describe it as forming a superspecies with the pied currawong. Common names include black currawong, sooty currawong, black bell-magpie,〔 black or mountain magpie, black or sooty crow-shrike, and muttonbird.〔 Black jay is a local name applied to the species within Tasmania. The species is often confused with the local dark-plumaged subspecies of the grey currawong (''S. versicolor''), known as the clinking currawong or hill magpie. There are three subspecies of the black currawong: the nominate form ''Strepera fuliginosa fuliginosa'' of Tasmania; ''Strepera fuliginosa parvior'' of Flinders Island, described by Schodde and Mason in 1999;〔 and ''Strepera fuliginosa colei'' of King Island, described by Gregory Mathews in 1916. The two island subspecies have identical plumage to the nominate, but are slightly smaller with shorter wings and tails, subspecies ''colei'' having a shorter tail than ''parvior''.〔〔 Together with the pied and grey currawong, the black currawong forms the genus ''Strepera''.〔 Although crow-like in appearance and habits, currawongs are only distantly related to true crows, and are instead closely related to the Australian magpie and the butcherbirds. The affinities of all three genera were recognised early on and they were placed in the family Cracticidae in 1914 by ornithologist John Albert Leach after he had studied their musculature. Ornithologists Charles Sibley and Jon Ahlquist recognised the close relationship between the woodswallows and the butcherbirds and relatives in 1985, and combined them into a Cracticini clade, which later became the family Artamidae.〔 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「black currawong」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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