PETRCECA. 



163 



c3-eil'a.S -p l-l' I 'T?rT^.:~! /K . Swainson. 



PetrcEca leggii. 



SCARLET-BREASTED ROBIN. 

 Petroica multicolor, (nee Gmel.), fiould, Bds. Austr., fol, Vol. ITl., pi. 3 (1848); id., Haiulbk. Bds. 



Austr., Vol. I., p. 279 (1865). 

 Petrwca leyyii, Sharpe, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. IV., p. 165 (1879). 



Adult m.^le— Genera? colour above black; lesser rving-coverts black, the median and yreater 

 series white; primaries blackish-brown, the inner series with two n-hite streaks on the outer 

 web; secondaries blackish-brown, the median series with their outer tvebs, and a band across the 

 centre of the inner webs white: tail blackish-broivn, the lateral feathers while, margined with 

 blackish-brown on the basal ha[t of the inner web, and towards the tip of the outer web; forehead 

 white; lores, sides of the head and throat black ; breast light scarlet .■ abdomen, flanks, and under 

 tail-coverts white, with blackish-gretj bases to all the feathers; bill black; legs and feet black ; iris 

 blackish-brown. Total length in the flesh .5-2 inches, wing -3, taU 2-2, bill O-^, tarsus OS. 



Adult FEyixLE— General colour above brown; upper wing-coverts brown, the median and 

 greater series tipped with buff; quills brown, and similarly marked as those of the male, but with 

 buffg-white; tail brown, the lateral feathers markei with white as in the male; a small spot on the 

 forehead white; sides of the head and neck brown: chin arid throat dull greyish-white ; remainder 

 of the under surface dull white: the chest and breast strongly washed with light scarlet: sides oj the 

 breast and the abdomen pale brown; under tail-coverts dull white. 



Distribution.-Queenshmd, New South Wales, \-ictoria, South Australia, Western Australia, 

 Tasmania. 



fN favourable situations the Scarlet-breasted Robin is generally distributed over the greater 

 portion of Eastern and Southern Australia, and likewise Tasmania. It is more freely 

 dispersed throughout the coastal districts and contiguous mountain ranges, and is seldom met 

 with in the large open e.xpanses of dry country far inland. Humid mountain ranges are its 

 favourite haunts during spring and summer, more especially where clearings have been made 

 and the stumps still remain. At the end of autumn it visits the flats and open forest lands 

 near the coast, and may sometimes be seen in the public parks and gardens of our cities, 

 remaining there throughout the winter, and returning as a rule to the mountain ranges for the 

 purposes of breeding early in the spring. 



Considerable variation e.xists in the size of the white frontal spot, both in the males and 

 females, and the extent of the white markings on the wings and tail, some specimens havmg 

 all the tail feathers narrowly tipped with white. In young birds the white frontal marking 

 is small, and it increases in size with age, extending on to the crown of the head in very old 

 birds. Gould points out '^ that "a slight difference exists in the depth of the colouring ot 

 specimens from the western and eastern coasts; those from the former, particularly the temales, 

 having the scarlet more brilliant than those from New South Wales and Tasmania; the 

 diiference, however, is too trivial to be regarded otherwise than as indicative of a mere 

 variety." The most brilliantly coloured male in the large series of these birds from all parts 

 of Australia and Tasmania in the Australian Museum collection, is a specimen procured at 

 Liverpool, near Sydney. The most richly coloured female is a specimen obtained at Lithgow, 

 in the Blue Mountains, in i888. Dr. Sharpe, in describing this species in the "Catalogue of 

 Birds in the British Museum,"! writes:— "A female from King George's Sound, Western 



• Handbk. Bds. Austr., Vol. i.. p. 279 (1865). 

 t Cat. Bds. Brit. Mus., Vol. iv., p. 166 (1S79). 



